' i* /
i
*
JV
m
M5. (2. Xba^M^-
/.&?
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013
http://archive.org/details/pathicreco16inte
THE
Homoeopathic Recorder,
MONTHLY.
VOLUME XVI.
1901.
I 1 , V . ,
PUBLISHED BY
BOERICKE & TAFEL.
MAR 24 1902
INDEX TO VOL. XVI,
A Medical Review, 215.
A Triumph for Homoeopathy, 356.
Abies Nigra on the Heart, 411.
Action of Medicine, 460.
After Surgery had Done Its Best.
The Sequel, 10.
After Surgery had Done Its Best.
Another Sequel, 115.
Am. Inst. Homoeopathy, 161, 219,
267, 35i, 565.
Amblyopia from Wood Alcohol, 221.
Appetite, Loss of and Treatment, 21.
Antitoxin, 380.
Anti-Malignancy of Supplied Blood,
374-
Avena and Arnica as Nervine Tonics,
231.
Avena in Colds, 478.
Bacillinum, 366, 570.
Bacteriology, Reaction Against, 119.
Bellis perennis, 106.
Black Light and Transparency of
Matter, 177.
Boric acid Symptoms, 525.
Bovine Tuberculosis, Transmission
to Human Subjects, 409.
Bovine Tuberculosis not Transmis-
sible to Man, 553.
Calendula Case, A, 496.
Cancer, Treatment by Homoeopathic
Medicine, 10, 115, 492.
Cases from Practice, 29, 126, 312.
Ceanothus, 268.
Cedron in Yellow Fever, 479.
Chelidouium in Whooping Cough,
3i-
Chemists and Physicians, 497.
Chicago Med. Soc, 37, in.
Chlorosis Cured, 381.
Clinical Cases, 157.
Cocaine Poisoning, 321.
Colinsonia, 525.
Compresses and Inflammation of
Throat, 314.
Crataegus, 516.
Curentur vs. Curantur, 32.
Cutaneous Diseases, 27.
Diabetes Mel., 354.
Diasthesic Homoeopath)', 334.
Diphtheria, Common Salt in, 168.
Diphtherinum, 116, 130, 163.
Disreputable Practice. A, 183.
Do not Tell the Patient the Name of
the Remedy, 514.
Eruption, Suppressed, 313.
Evolution of a Homoeopath, 322.
Felons, Carbuncles and Boils, 75.
Ferrum picricum in Prostatic Ail-
ments, 507.
Fevers, Malarious, 203.
Future Evolution in Mediciue, 298.
Geranium maculatum, 167.
Gout, 175.
Granite Ware, Dangers of, 358.
Hahnemann's Pharmacology, At-
tempts to Set Aside, 41 r.
Heart Affections, A Quick Cure, 319.
Hedeoma pulegoides, Proving, 59.
Hemicrania Retinalis, 369.
History of American Institute of
Homoeopathy, 1, 49, 97, 145,
195, 241, 289, 337, 385, 433,
481.
How He Became a Homoeopath, 406.
How to Study Materia Medica, 445.
Hydrastis, 268.
Hydronephrosis, Homoeopathic
Cure, 122.
IV
IXDEX
Ileus- Atropin, 230.
Insanity Cured, 502.
Insomnia, 120.
Intestinal Catarrh with Convulsions,
26.
Kali bichromicurn, A Case, 232.
Keeley Cure, Origin of, 514.
Kreosote in emesis, 416.
Latent Tuberculosis, 312.
Leach vs. Sternberg, 76.
Magnesia phos. in Menstrual Colic,
309-
Malaria, 203, 309.
Materia Medica, How to Learn, 559.
Materia Medica Pura, 370,
Mental Alienation, Cures of, 229.
Mephitis, 71.
Merc. sol. and Sil. in Gout and
Rheumatism, 175.
Middle Ear, Suppurative Process of,
373-
Mission of the Institute, 262.
Moccasin Snake Venom, 235.
Mullein Oil, 284.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Bkrgev. Principles of Hygiene,
522.
Beweey. Free Thought, 40.
Biggar. Cancer, 426.
Blackwood. Diseases of the
Heart, 136.
BoERiCKE. Materia Medica, 330.
Bradford. Index to Provings,
179.
BuFFUM. Esssentials, Eye and
Ear, 572.
Burnett. Curability of Tumors,
180.
Cearke. A, B, C Manual of Mat.
Med., 86.
Ci.arke. Dictionary of Medicine,
180.
Convers. Treatments Bioquimico, j
182.
Coreey. Infectious F)xanthema
472.
Daves. Obstetrical and Gyneco-
logical Nursing, 87.
Doreand. Dictionary, 520.
Eichorst. Psychic and Psychism,
3"-
FahnesTock. Materia Medica,
136.
Fanning- Hay Fever, 426.
FEETER. Dispensary, 38.
Fisher. Infant Feeding, 181.
Gatcheee. Practice, 233.
Ghose. Cholera, 472.
Goued. Year-book, 87.
Grandin. Obstetrics, 88.
Haab. Ophthalmoscopy, 280.
Haephide. Psychic and Psych-
ism, 331.
HeemuTH. Various Verses, 85.
HOWEEE. Psychology, 38.
International Horn. Directory, 136.
Jakob. Nervous System, 280.
JOUSSET. Practice, 521.
Jueien. Libertinism and Mar-
riage, 473-
King. Electricity, 473.
Lawrence. Practical Medicine,
57i.
Leoyd. Etidorpha, 330.
Leoyd. Warwick of the Knobs,
521.
Loyering. Home Treatment, 87.
Medical Directory, 473.
Nash. Regional Leaders, 329.
Pp:Ebees. Vaccination, 280.
Poweee. Diseases of Children,
281.
Pratt. Composite Man. 520, 572.
Senn. Surgery, 234.
INDEX.
Shaeffkr. Obstetrics, 279.
Shaeffer. Labor, 281.
TalcoTT. Mental Diseases, 330.
Wilder. History of Medicine,
377-
Neuralgia, 509.
Nullus Adductus, etc., 562.
Obituary, 276, 277, 278.
Odors in Disease, 241.
Old Man of the Sea, The, 396.
Old School Healing, a Pessimistic
View, 23.
Olive Oil, 174, 5J5-
Opium, 117.
Opium, Fatal Dressing, 568.
Origin of Homoeopathic Pharmacy,
456.
Out-door Air in the Cure of Disease,
67.
Paralysis, Facial, 513.
Passiflora, 475.
Phellandrium in Consumption, 307.
Phlegmasia Alba Dolens, 172.
Pediatric Materia Medica, 15, 63,
152.
Peritonitis, Two Cases, 169.
Pilocarpine and Morphine, 241.
Present Responsibilities for Future
Citizenship, 537.
Prevention More Logical than Cure,
529-
Progressive Muscular Atrophy, 157.
Progressive Muscular Atrophy, 193.
Prostate Gland, 374, 507.
Pyaemia, 510.
Rabies, 349.
Ratanhia, 525,
Reason for Existence, 352.
Renal Colic, 12S.
Rheumatism, 175.
Rheumatism, Acute, Horn. Treat-
ment vs. Salicylic acid, 78.
Rhus aromatica, 303.
Secale cornutum in Diabetes, 354.
Senate of Seniors, 299.
Serum Therapy, 320.
Single Remedy Cures, 452.
Some of the Relations of Disease to
One Another and the Body
they Affect, 204.
Stramonium Case, A, 512.
Supra-orbital Neuralgia, 509.
Tape Worm, 126.
Texas Medical Law, 160.
Texas Medical Association, 506.
The City of Desperate Hope, 361 .
"The City of Desperate Hope," 516.
Transactions Colo. Soc, 71.
Transactions N. Y., Soc, 105.
Transactions Ohio Soc, 301.
Tuberculinum, 130, 163, 225, 358,
366, 423, 476, 524, 570.
Urea in Treatment of Consumption,
526.
Trie acid Fallacies, 516.
Vaccination and Antitoxin, 303.
Vaccination Data Wanted, 264.
Vaccination, Effects of, 471.
Vaccination, French and German
Army Statistics, 381.
Vaccination Internal, A Victory for,
300.
Vaccination, Some Letters Regard-
ing, 544.
Veterinary Pointers, 564.
What Homoeopathy Has Done, 403.
Wood Alcohol, 221.
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa., JANUARY, 1901. No. 1
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Sixth Annual Session.
The sixth annual session of the American Institute of Homoe-
opathy was held in Philadelphia, in the Homoeopathic Medical
College of Pennsylvania, on June 13 and 14, 1849. Both Secre-
taries being absent, Jacob Jeanes, M. D., called the meeting to
order.
The minutes show that fifty members were present.
C. F. Manchester, M. D., of Pawtucket, R. I., was appointed
General Secretary pro tern.
Samuel Gregg, M, D., of Boston, was elected Chairman of the
session, and made a short address in response.
Alvan E. Small, M. D., of Philadelphia, was elected General
Secretary.
William P. Esrey, M. D., of Philadelphia, Provisional Secre-
tary, and S. R. Kirby, M. D., of New York, was re-elected
Treasurer.
In the absence of Dr. Kirby, W Williamson, M. D., of Phila-
delphia, was requested to act as Treasurer pro tern.
Through Jacob Jeanes, M. D., the Central Bureau made its
annual report, which was read, and laid on the table for further
consideration.
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Elections, reported the names of Joseph Hark, M. D.,
Anthony Zumbrock, M. D., and Daniel R. Gardiner, M. D., of
Philadelphia; E. Bently Hull, M. D., of Bridgeton, N. J.; Wm.
W. Rodman, M. D., of Waterbury, Conn., and Harry Tyson,
2 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
M. D., of Worcester, Pa., for membership, who were unani-
mously elected.
Reports were called for from Edward Bayard, M. D., on Blis-
ters and other External Irritants; from J. F. Gray, M. D., on the
Translation and Publication of Hahnemann's Materia Medica
Pur a; from R. A. Snow, M. D., on the Employment of Water as
a Therapeutic Agent, but no reports were made as the several
physicians called upon were absent.
No report was made from the Treasurer, Dr. S. R. Kirby, he,
too, being absent.
Walter Williamson, M. D., of Philadelphia, Chairman of the
committee, appointed at the last session, to ascertain if the name
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy had been employed
by any local society in an improper manner, reported that no in-
stance of the kind had come to the knowledge of the committee
as occurring within the jurisdiction of the Institute.
A report was received from the Secretary of the Massachusetts
Homoeopathic Fraternity, which was accepted, read and filed.
The following questions were propounded to the various
branches of the Institute, with a request that answers would be
forwarded to the General Secretary in ample time for the next
annual meeting:
Of how many members does your branch consist ?
What extent of territory does your branch include ?
Has the Asiatic cholera visited your section the last year ?
Has epidemic dysentery prevailed, and what remedies have
been most successfully employed in these diseases ?
J. F. Flagg, M. D., of Boston, Chairman of the Committee on
Anatomical Nomenclature, reported progress.
A committee to draw up a report on the subject of cholera was
appointed, consisting of W. Williamson, M. D., A. Leon, M. D.,
and G. W. Swazey, M. D.
The Institute then adjourned to meet again at eight o'clock)
to hear the annual address by B. F. Joslin, M. D., of New York.
In his address Dr. Joslin referred to the importance of the
general adoption of the new principle in therapeutics known as
Homoeopathy, and the total revolution which it was affecting in
medical practice, and the importance of the increase of the aver-
age duration of life by years.
Leaving out the great mass of experimental evidence by which
jhe system had been established, gaining for itself such a high
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 3
rank among the sciences, he mainly considered the new method
of determining the remedy.
He said that the law of cure should show such relation be-
tween the disease and its remedy that the examination of the
former should enable us to point out the latter. During the ex-
istence of a disease certain phenomena are present, recognized
by observation, which are not noticed in health, and these are
called symptoms, and these symptoms must necessarily enter into
both the indications in proving the medicine as well as those
which are shown by the action of the disease.
He referred to the obstacles which post mortem phenomena
alone, in provings in toxicological cases, presented for the pur-
pose of prescribing.
The results of a disease on the living body form themselves
into a series of effects which go to constitute the malady, the
same as symptoms are classified in the proving of a remedy.
Dr. Joslin then laid down five steps in the problem of deter-
mining the remedy which theory infers is the proper one for se-
lection.
First, the groups of symptoms must be noticed.
Second, one must obtain the properties of the malady which
are in immediate contact with the properties of the medicine.
Third, he must determine what occult action a remedy pro-
duces in order to remove those of the disease.
The fourth step is to pass from these occult properties to
the obvious properties of the remedy to determine the action a
remedy evinces, in order that it may excite the requisite occult
action.
In the fifth step comes the determination of the medicine that
will produce the obvious action which the theorist has inferred
to be requisite.
He then gave an illustration of homoeopathic action likening
it as being similar to a hydraulic engine throwing out jets of
fluid in different directions, from different orifices, which rep-
resented the human body in emitting the vital energies.
He closed his address by alluding to those members of the Old
School who stated that they had made an examination of Homoe-
opathy and its principles and had found them untrue. He
doubted any such trials, with failure resulting, ever having been
made. In the first place, they had repeatedly taken and admin-
istered a variety of our potentized medicines, in small doses,
4 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
without observing any symptoms whatever, and when tried upon
the sick had not noted the removal of any of the symptoms
present.
It was also implied in the second place that the number of
doses and their magnitude had been such as to produce various
symptoms which differed entirely from those recorded by Hahne-
mann and his followers; and thirdly, that many drugs known to
have the property of producing many observable effects, when
given in small doses, at known intervals, in no way produced
any beneficial results upon the patient.
Dr. Joslin concluded his remarks by stating that the first set
of experiments would verify the efficiency of the smallest doses
of Hahnemann; that the second class would verify his Materia
Medica, and that the third class would assure the accuracy of the
law of cure. This he believed to be the only law on which to
prescribe, and to those who have verified it no theoretical de-
fence is required, as their convictions, as to its efficacy, have
been established.
A large and appreciative audience listened most interestedly
to Dr. Joslin's address, and at its close the thanks of the Insti-
tute were tendered him and a copy solicited for publication.
On Thursday morning the Institute met for its second session,
when the minutes of the previous day's session were read and
approved.
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore; C. Whitehead, M. D.,
of Harrisburg; B. F. Bowers, M. D., of New York; David
Osgood, of Boston, and E. Clark, M. D., of Portland, Maine,
were appointed a Committee on Elections.
Constantine Hering, M D., Jacob Jeanes, M. D., C. Neidhard,
M. D., W. Williamson, M. D., and J. Kitchen, M. D., all of
Philadelphia, were re-appointed to constitute the Central
Bureau.
The Committee on Cholera reported progress, and were con-
tinued to report at the next annual meeting.
Drs. Small, Jeanes and Swazey were appointed a committee to
receive all communications intended for the Institute, to report
upon the same and to recommend the printing of such articles as
would promote the interests of Homoeopathy.
An exceedingly able article on Material, Mental and Moral
Hygiene, by Dr. J. H. P. Frost, A. M., a student of medicine,
was received. Being late and of some length, it was not read,
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 5
but preserved among the valuable papers of the Institute for
future use.
The Institute directed that a copy of its proceedings, also a
copy of Dr. Joslin's address, be furnished to Otis Clapp, of
Boston, for publication in the Homoeopathic Quarterly.
The thanks of the Institute were presented to Dr. Samuel
Gregg for the patient and just manner in which he had pre-
sided.
It was decided to meet in Albany, on the second Wednesday
in June, 1850.
Before adjourning A. E. Small, M. D., of Philadelphia, was ap-
pointed to deliver the annual address at the next meeting, and
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., was selected as his
substitute in the event of Dr. Small being unable to be present.
The Seventh Annual Session.
The Seventh Annual Session of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in City Hall, Albany, Wednesday, June
12, 1850. Edward Bayard, M. D., of New York, was unani-
mously elected Chairman of the Session.
A. E. Small, M. D., of Philadelphia, was re-elected General
Secretary.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., was elected Pro-
visional Secretary, and S. R. Kirby, M. D., was re-appointed
Treasurer.
Frederick Vanderburg, M. D. , New York, N. Y.,
George Beakley,
Horace M. Paine, 4< Albany, "
Durfee Chase, " Palmyra, "
Geo. T. Foote, " Syracuse,
David Springsteed, " Albany,
Simeon A. Cook, " Troy,
Frederick Humphreys, " Utica, "
G. W. Bigler, " Hagerstown, Md.,
Elias Foote, " New Haven, Conn.,
William Peck, " Cincinnati, Ohio,
J. K. Clark, " Worcester, Mass.,
Henry Cole, " Pittsfield,
John Wheeler, " Cleveland. Ohio,
Benjamin Ober, " Wilkesbarre, Pa.,
Washington Hoppin, " Providence, R. I.,
Benj. F. Cornell, " Moran Sta., Saratoga Co., N.Y.,
6 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
were elected members of the Institute by unanimous vote, hav-
ing been endorsed by the Committee on Elections.
Dr. Flagg, Chairman of the Committee on Anatomical Nomen-
clature, offered a report of the first outlines of Topographical
Anatomy, which was accepted with the thanks of the Institute
for his careful attention to its preparation.
W. Williamson, M. D. , Chairman of the Committee on Cholera,
verbally reported that all they had prepared in reply was embodied
in the report of the Philadelphia Branch, which was presented
by that body to the Institute. The Committee was therefore re-
lieved and the report accepted.
Jacob Jeanes, M. D., read the report of the Philadelphia
Branch and presented letters upon Cholera from Drs. Walter
Williamson, Jacob Jeanes, Joseph Berens, C. B. Matthews,
Richard Gardiner, James Kitchen and Wm. S. Helmuth.
The Committee on the Translation of Hahnemann's " Materia
Medica Pura," having made no progress toward the desired re-
sults, was discharged from farther consideration of the subject,
on motion of Jacob Beakley, M. D.
The report of the New Jersey Branch was accepted, together
with letters from J. B. Petherbridge, M. D., of Trenton, and J.
R. Andrews, M. D., of Camden, giving their experience in the
treatment of Cholera.
The decease of R. A. Snow, M. D., did not prevent the receipt
of his report upon "Water as a Therapeutic Agent," which was
obtained from his widow.
The paper was exhaustive in its consideration of the subject,
and in a manner seemed to contain a slight touch of humor; he
had closed his article with the statement that the artificial
manner in which people live and the diseases to which it led
made it practicable to use water as a medicine with favorable re-
sults.
At the afternoon session the regular order of business was re-
sumed, and the standing committees appointed.
F. R. McManus, M. B., of Baltimore; B. F. Bowers, M. D.,
of New York; C. Whitehead, M. D., of Harrisburg; David
Osgood, M. D., of Boston, and E. Clark, M. D., of Maine, were
re appointed the Committee on Elections.
Drs. Hering, Williamson, Jeanes, Neidhard and Kitchen were
re-appointed to constitute the Central Bureau.
A. E. Small, M. D., Jacob Jeanes, M. D., and G. W. Swazey,
American Institute of Homoeopathy.
M. D., were re-appointed the committee to which all communi-
cations for the Institute were to be referred.
C. Vanderburg, M. D., of New York City, read a paper before
the Institute (subject not mentioned), for which he received the
thanks of the society.
On Wednesday evening a large audience of ladies and gentle-
men met with the Institute to listen to an interesting and very
able address by A. E. Small, M. D., of Philadelphia, to whom
the thanks of the Institute were afterwards presented.
The address was a most complete and consistently comprehen-
sive description of Hahnemann's medical theories, with proofs
gathered from drug provings from the natural sources of plant
life. He also spoke of the action of Nature in dispensing her
life-giving principles and the very small beginnings from which
grand enterprises have sprung from time to time.
The hopeful predictions of Dr. Small, regarding Homoeopathy,
were based by him upon the same foundation of natural dynam-
ics which gave strength to the development of the compass, the
steamboat and the telegraph.
The doctor's hopes have scarce been realized yet, but our noble
enterprise is becoming more extended and more firmly estab-
lished each year.
After referring to the medical events of the past year and the
opportunity of again exchanging friendly greetings, he said the
object of the Institute was the improvement of the science of
medicine; that the temple of true medical science rested upon the
rock of eternal truth; that the darkness of the gloomy night had
passed, and the influences of the morning, now dawning upon our
profession, were being realized.
He claimed that the discovery of Hahnemann would serve as
the foundation for the rearing of the true temple of medical
science. Hahnemann's predecessors were industrious in anatomy,
physiology, chemistry, botany, surgery and obstetrics, but they
had no guiding therapeutic law, such as Hahnemann had given
us.
Although Hippocrates and other older writers had referred to
this guiding principle, it was left to Hahnemann to bring it to
light and reduce the practice of medicine to a science.
Dr. Small then referred to the well known maxim of Nature's
law of cure and its applicability to all curable diseases, and held
that those who adopted Homoeopathy were no more sectarians
8 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
than those who adopted Newton's laws, determining the move-
ments of the heavenly bodies.
He claimed that the history of medicine, up to Hahnemann's
time, was that of opinions, revolutions and sects, but the time
had arrived for the unlocking of the seals and bringing to light
the great truths which Hahnemann promulgated, thus establish-
ing this now well known positive therapeutic science.
He said that the mere development of the law of cure was not
sufficient to ensure its triumph over former errors and supersti-
tions. It was only the foundation upon which to build and he
appealed to the profession for their industrious aid, claiming that
every one was solemnly charged with the duty of adding a stone
in the construction of this medical temple, and urged the whole
profession to lend their aid by contributing to the Materia
Medica.
Homoeopathy rests upon facts recorded by thousands of ob-
servers, and addresses itself to the vital forces — forces which
generate either health or disease.
It is necessary to observe the action of the remedy upon the
living healthy organism, in order to discover the effect of the
remedy and the compounding of remedies should be avoided.
He spoke of the principle of vital dynamism, which he said
was recognized by the erudite and critical observers of Nature,
and stated that the vital forces create, preserve, produce disease
and pain, and in order to complete the circle we must not refuse
to add the dynamic therapeutics.
He summed up the science in six principles. First, that each
medicine must be prepared by itself, with the greatest care.
Second, that to prove a medicine it must be given uncombined
with any other medicinal agent. Third, that the symptoms pro-
duced upon the healthy are the only means for a perfect rule by
which to administer a remedy to the sick. Fourth, that a dis-
ease is an interruption of the vital forces, which can only be over-
come by forces as inappreciable as those producing the diseased
action. Fifth, that only one remedy must be given at a time;
and, sixth, that medicines must be sufficiently attenuated to ad-
minister upon the similia similibus principle so as not to produce
an unnecessary aggravation of symptoms.
On Thursday morning, the minutes being read, Wm. E.
Payne, M. D., offered a resolution which was unanimously car-
ried, " That candidates who may hereafter be admitted to mem-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 9
bership of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, who have
received a diploma from some regularly established medical col-
lege or institution legally authorized to confer such degrees,
shall have the title M. D. affixed to their names in all publica-
tions of the Institute; and all who have not such degree of
Doctor of Medicine, but are eligible to membership according to
the seventh article of the By-laws shall have prefixed the title
of Dr., and the Committee on Elections is hereby instructed to
so report their names to the Institute."
On motion of G. W. Swazey, M. D., the report made by Wm.
E. Payne, M. D., on the " Employment of Emetics and Cathar-
tics," which was read at a previous meeting, was published as
part of the present proceedings of the Institute.
Dr. Foote was appointed a Committee to revise the rules of
order, so far as they relate to the order of business, and to report
at the next meeting of the Institute.
Drs. Kirby, Beakley and Neidhard were appointed a Com-
mittee to procure the translation of Hahnemann's "Materia
Medica Pura " into the English language, without holding the
Institute responsible for the expense of the translation.
Drs. Barlow, Kirby and Small were appointed a Committee to
report upon the Asiatic Cholera.
A resolution was carried which was offered by Dr. Ward,
4i That, in the opinion of this Institute, all methods of arriving at
the curative properties of a drug, except by means of its patho-
genetic effects, are uncertain."
Dr. Bowers moved the adoption of a resolution, which was car
ried : "That in the death of R. A. Snow, M. D., John Taylor,
M. D., Albus Rea, M. D., Moses Atwood, M. D., George W.
Cook, M. D., and others, we deplore the loss of highly esteemed
and efficient co-laborers in the work for which we are associated."
The thanks of the Institute were presented to the Common
Council of Albany for their kind courtesy in allowing the use
of their City Hall, and to the Homoeopathic physicians of the
city for their politeness and attention during the meetings.
On motion of F. R. McManus, M. D., the editors or publish-
ers of the several homoeopathic periodicals in this country were
respectfully invited to publish the proceedings of the session and
the address of A. E. Small, M. D.
It was also moved and carried unanimously, that the proceed-
ings be published in pamphlet form and a copy be sent to each
member.
io After Surgery Had Done its Best.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., was appointed
to deliver the address at the next annual meeting. The Institute
adjourned to meet on the second Wednesday in June, 1851, at
New Haven, Conn.
AFTER SURGERY HAD DONE ITS BEST.
The Sequel.
Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
When, a little time since, I responded to your request to pre-
sent to you some cases typical of homoeopathic cures I thought
over the matter rather carefully, and came to the conclusion that
it would be useless to attempt to report any case which could
emanate from a person not well known and, if possible, not
prominent in social life. I, therefore, sent to you the cases which
appeared in your November Recorder of cures wrought in peo-
ple well known, politically and socially — cures which had been
thoroughly examined and upon whom opinions had been given
by surgeons distinguished for their learning and for their high
standing in the community.
The cases which were presented to you were both of them ex-
amined by me, and the treatment was under my supervision and
also that of my son, Dr. Paul Allen.
In the case of the lady, who is a Spanish lady of good birth,
owning large estates in Cuba, a lady whose means are abundant,
who could command the best medical and surgical skill in the
world, and who did command it, in whom the diagnosis was to
my mind clearly and accurately made, who consulted not less a
personage than Professor , of a great University in the
City of New York, a distinguished author and professor, and on
account of whose diagnosis the various operations were per-
formed. His opinion was given unhesitatingly, after most care-
ful examination; the operations were performed by the most dis-
tinguished surgeons, were performed in the most expert manner,
and, in spite of these operations, the disease repeatedly returned,
exactly as prophesied by the distinguished expert who had been
consulted. An ex-surgeon of the United States army had pro-
nounced the case hopeless, had pronounced further surgical in-
terference utterly out of the question, and I myself was asked to
give advice. My son, Dr. Paul Allen, repeatedly saw the case
After Surgery Had Done its Best. n
at her house and later at my office. She was suffering, as has
been stated, with cerebral symptoms, threatening disorganiza-
tion of the brain, probably haemorrhage, and it was recognized
that the disorder was, in all probability, the result of a malignant
disease, and no other opinion could be given except to concur in
the opinion of the distinguished specialist in histology, that, as
had been feared, it was the return of the malignant sarcoma.
Indeed, the last recurrence of the disease (on the arm) was
even then apparent. The flesh of the forearm was swollen, in-
filtrated, the lymphatics angry and inflamed, and the glands of
the axilla inflamed and painful, and, taken with the previous his-
tory of the case, left no doubt in my mind, or that of the preced-
ing surgeon, of the malignant character of the growth, which
had, for the third time, attacked and threatened her life. There
only remained the advice which was given, and which so far as
I knew, or could at that time know, could have no essential bear-
ing upon the sarcoma. My opinion was based upon the necessity
of prescribing for the cerebral symptoms, and for the symptoms
of the fever which had recurred. The symptoms were essen-
tially these, that about 10 or n o'clock in the forenoon, the fever
would begin to rise, the distress in her head would increase (the
temperature increasing to about 1040), associated with vertigo,
loss of co-ordinated movements, increase of stupor, heat of the
head, and entire absence of thirst, to be followed about 12 to 1
o'clock by slow subsidence of the fever, so that by afternoon or
evening she became greatly relieved, the fever would almost en-
tirely disappear, and before nightfall she would be able to lie
down in bed and sleep; but the attack would recur on the fol-
lowing day at about 10 or 11 o'clock. This recurrence had taken
place so regularly that the only remedy necessary to prescribe
with any hope of success was Gelsemium, which it was advised
to administer in the sixth dilution in half a glass of water; so,
accordingly, a powder was prepared, containing a few pellets
medicated with the sixth centessimal dilution, and this powder
was directed to be dissolved in a half glass of water and a tea-
spoonful taken every hour until the fever disappeared. Then to
discontinue the remedy until the temperature should begin to
rise next morning; then to resume the remedy and continue it
throughout the next period. It was said at the time that though
there was no hope held out, it seemed to be the only possible
way of checking the periodical rise of temperature. The effect
12 After Surgery Had Done its Best.
was as marvelous and unlooked for as could well be imagined.
The next day the temperature did not rise above ioi°, and on
the third day the rise of temperature disappeared entirely and
the patient felt well, and, indeed, within a week she seemed to
be entirely cured. Within two weeks after that time the lady
herself came to my office and showed me the malignant growth
on her arm, which was very much less angry, and which finally
dried up and dropped off, leaving a smooth surface, which was
the end of that. The lymphatic glands became less and less in-
flamed, the tenderness disappeared, dresses could be worn with
comfort, and that was the end of those symptoms. The vertigo
in the head disappeared with the fever, she lost her stupid look
and actions, her appetite returned, and these symptoms entirely
disappeared. Within a few weeks the lady was out driving, and
after three years there has been no return of any of these symp-
toms and she seems to have recovered so far that she feels per-
fectly safe in spending the winter on her estates in Cuba.
All the medicine that was given her was half a dozen powders
of Gelsemium in sixth dilution, as mentioned. No other medicine
has during the space of three years been administered for any
purpose whatever, nor does any medicine seem to be required.
This, I think, is by far the most brilliant and most wonderful
result of pure, straight, unmitigated Homoeopathy that it has
been my lot to witness. Instead of producing the slightest im-
pression upon the mind of the celebrated Professor of Histology,
I have been told that when the cure was brought home to him,
and he was asked why the operations had been advised and what
he thought of the result, his simple reply was that he thought,
after all, he had made a mistake in diagnosis.
So, in reply to the various inquiries which have been made as
to what I consider the diagnosis, I can only say in the words of
the distinguished expert, written and treasured by the lady and her
family, that it was a case of malignant recurring sarcoma. I can
make no other diagnosis. It does not matter, really, what the
diagnosis was, something was the matter with her that, in the
best judgment of the surgeons, required very extensive and very
careful excision or extirpation of the lymphatics of the arm and
both legs, and the disease continuing to recur and attacking the
brain compelled an unfavorable prognosis. The cure was simply
a homoeopathic cure; it was based upon pure symptomatology,
Gelsemium was the only possible remedy to prescribe, it was the
After Surgery Had Done its Best. 13
only possible chance of life the lady had; no other system of
treatment could have been possible. No other system of thera-
peutics would have cured the lady, and I myself am quite satis-
fied with the results of Homoeopathy.
Second Case — Cancer of the Tongue.
In the second case, that of a distinguished lawyer of this city,
who was attacked by carcinoma, or possibly by epithelioma of
the tongue, I wish to say that the gentleman referred to was a
prominent lawyer, engaged to be married, and had been con-
demned either to death (or what to him was worse than death >
mutilation and the loss of his tongue) by several of the most
distinguished surgeons in this city. The case is not an obscure
one; by his own distinguished position (made later even more
distinguished by his political course in life), the surgeons equally
distinguished, necessarily cautious and hesitatingly urging the
operation — removal of his tongue — as the only possible means of
saving his life.
I may say that his case excited the widest and most pro-
nounced interest among a large circle of acquaintances in this
city, and when my advice was sought it was very hesitatingly
given, namely, not to submit to the operation, for possibly I con-
sidered there might be a chance of arresting the progress of the
epithelioma of the tongue by medicine and I hesitated because
the weight of distinguished authority was against me. However,
my advice was taken, and even then, as may be imagined, I took
charge of his case with great hesitation, feeling that if I did not
succeed the man's life was at stake, but recognizing that if I
could succeed, as I hoped to, his future happiness and success in
life would be assured.
When first I saw the man and examined his tongue it seemed
as though through the centre of the swollen tongue a hole had
been bored with elevated and indurated margins. At first I
thought the case was syphilitic, possibly, but after the most
rigorous investigation I came to the conclusion that there was
no syphilitic taint in the man, as the events proved, and my pre-
scription of Phosphorus was based partly on the fact that, asso-
ciated with the most marked pharyngeal local indications, which'
it is unnecessary to detail here, but which can be found in any
Materia Medica, he was suffering from a pronounced depres-
sion of mind, which, perhaps, was not unexpected in the case of
14 After Stirgery Had Done its Best.
a young man who had every prospect, not only of a brilliant
partnership in business, but in life, but at the same time the
symptoms of Phosphorus were very well marked, both from the
physical and mental aspect. Phosphorus was prescribed in the
sixth centesimal dilution in liquid. A few pellets were moist-
ened with this solution, and the patient was instructed to take a
pellet every four hours. Of course, I saw the man frequently —
sometimes two or three times a day, but I never changed his
remedy. It acted kindly from the very first day. The malig-
nant look of the tumor slowly decreased, his general health and
spirits and mental poise improved to such an extent that within
a year he was able to get married, as he had proposed to do in
case he improved, and has since entirely recovered.
This case also was entirely cured by virtue of Homoeopathy;
by virtue of a single remedy carefully and accurately prescribed,
according to the symptoms local, mental and physical, which
presented themselves. I may be pardoned in adding a word to
the cases above recited
First: That the homoeopathic cure based upon symptomatol-
ogy, based upon the diagnostic talents of the highest order (for
this man had the most expert consultants to be had in New York
city) ought to carry some weight with it. I may be pardoned
in referring to a case which attracted the attention of Prof.
James C. Wood, of Cleveland, and was referred to in his address
to the American Institute of Homoeopathy two years ago. That
of the cure of a lady suffering from progressive muscular atrophy;
a case well vouched for from a diagnostic point of view, a case
fully detailed by him, the method of treatment carefully illum-
ined and the method of selection of a remedy also carefully
given. The case and the cure of it required an equally thorough
investigation and careful prescription, and which, it seems to
me, should be fully as convincing as either of these cases which
I have detailed to you.
Now, the ability to make such cures rests entirely upon the law of
Homoeopathy.
Personally, I ask for nothing more. There is no system of
medicine in the world that can make such cures. The history
of medicine, so far as I can read it, offers no approach to Homoe-
opathy in the method of cure. There is, to my mind, nothing
beyond — certainly nothing since the days of Hippocrates, and as
I study Therapeutics my whole life comes to be more and
Pediatric Materia Medica. 15
more bent upon the investigation and the results offered to us
by the Materia Medica which has been left to us to be perfected
by Hahnemann.
It has been said that the Homoeopathic School has been pay-
ing but little attention to the perfection of instruments of pre-
cision, to the investigation of pathology or to chemistry. The
method of Hahnemann has done, at least, one thing which has
not been accomplished by any body of men since the world be-
gan. It has investigated, and it has added to a Materia Medica
such as the world has never seen, which is itself the crowning
glory, and in comparison with which the rest of the inves-
tigations of all the physicians of all the schools of learning and
of all the scientific men in the world sink into insignificance. I
would rather have one line of Hahnemann's Materia Medica than
all the volumes that have been written on Histology; than all
the investigations that have been made in Pathology, in compar-
ison with which they are all insignificant.
Timothy Field Allen.
3 E. 4.8th St., New York City, Nov. 26, 1900.
PEDIATRIC MATERIA MEDICA.
Hepar Su-Ipvhuris.
By Thomas G' Roberts, «M. D., Chicago. \
Before considering the symptoms of this remedy that are espe-
cially applicable to the diseases of children, let us look at some
of its grand characteristics.
One of the most marked peculiarities of Hepar is oversensitive-
ness of the nervous system, consequently the patient is over-
sensitive to touch, pain and cold air. The mental irritability is
as great as the physical, hence he is ill-tempered, being much
irritated by trifles. There is a tendency to suppurative condi-
tions as boils, felons, abscesses, etc., and also to the productions
of ulcers. In all suppurative and ulcerative conditions there is
great se?isitive?iess to the least touch and to draughts of air. Stick-
ing or jagging in the felon, abscess, or inflamed tonsils.
Ulcers feel as if sticks were in them. Unhealthy skin; every
little injury suppurates. It also causes suppurations about foreign
bodies.
Fainting from the slightest pain. Desires strong tasting things,
as acids and the like.
1 6 Pediatric Materia Medica.
Catarrhal conditions abound everywhere, but especially in the
nose, ears, throat and larynx, the discharges being generally
thick, yellow and offensive. The discharges from all parts of the
body sometimes smell like old cheese. Sour discharges are also
highly characteristic of this drug, Even the discharge from the
ulcer may smell sour. The perspiration is sour, and may be
profuse day and night without relief. This is especially appli-
cable to patients who are suffering from the abuse of Mercury.
Mind. The child does not laugh, and is not inclined to play
or to amuse itself in any way. Extremely peevish ; angry at the
least trifle. Wrathful irritability. Hasty speech and hasty
drinking.
Inner Head. Traumatic cerebritis, in infants and children,
with trismus or convulsions. In some cases preferable to Arnica.
Outer Head. Cold, clammy, sour smelling perspiration, mostly
on the head and face, with aversion to being uncovered; worse
from the least exercise, and during night; better from warmth
and when at rest.
Moist eruption on the scalp, with fetid odor, and itching vio-
lently on rising in the .morning;, burning and feeling sore on
scratching; scabs easily torn off,, leaving a raw, bleeding surface.
The eruption spreads by means of new fitptWles, which appear just
beyond the main disease, and finally coalesce with those which
came first/,- Eczema capitis. ,: *
Eyes , Puru1ent, conjunctivitis, with, p-'of.use discharge, and
very great sensitiveness to touch and cold air.
Ophthalmia neonatorum when the cornea is affected; lids
swollen, spasmodically closed, bleeding easily on any attempt to
open them; great chemosis and photophobia; profuse discharge;
throbbing, aching pain better by warmth, worse from the slightest
touch and from any draught of air, little pimples surround the dis-
eased eyes. Protrusion of the eyes in croup.
Nose. Acute coryza, in scrofulous and rachitic children, when
the nose is red and swollen with loss of smell and scabby forma-
tions in the nostrils. The air passages are markedly affected,
and there is hoarseness and a loose, croupy cough, with rattling in
the upper part of the wind-pipe. It is especially indicated when
the catarrh is renewed by every breath of wind, or when it
affects only one nostril and there is headache aggravated by
every movement.
Chronic coryza, in scrofulous cases, when the patient is very
Pediatric Mater ta Medica. ij
sensitive and easily chitted by the slightest draught of air. The
nose is swollen and painful like a boil, and the nasal bones are
painful to touch. The discharges are thick and pus-like, and
sometimes tinged with blood. Especially useful if Mercury has
been abused.
Upper Face. Crusty pimples on the faces of young people.
Lower Face. The upper lip is greatly swollen and painful to
touch, but, otherwise, only tense.
Teeth and Gums. During dentition the gums are ulcerated
and very tender and painful. The child is troubled with a dry
herpetic eruption, which often appears in the bends of the fore-
arms, on the arms, or on the face or scalp. The itching is the
cause of much annoyance. In addition to the eruption, a whitish,
sour-smelling diarrhoea often prevails. The foregoing symptoms
are aggravated at the approach of every fresh group of teeth.
Traumatic cerebritis.
Inner Mouth. White, aphthous pustules on the inside of the
lips and cheeks, and on the tongue; the base of the ulcer re-
sembles lard.
Appetite. Longing for sour and strong -tasting things. Hasty
drinking and hasty speech.
Stomach. Stomach inclined to be out of order; cannot digest
food well, no matter how well selected it may be.
Abdomen. Colic, with dry, rough, pimply, itching eruptions.
Stool. The child has a sou? smell and white, fetid evacuations;
undigested stools; the child's stomach symptoms seem to be bet-
ter after feeding. The stool may be green or greenish, slimy,
clay-colored, light yellow, fecal, black, thin, or papescent; but
the odor is almost invariably sour or fetid, sometimes smelling
lik rotten eggs.
Green, slimy, sour diarrhoea in children, with excoriation of
the anus.
Diarrhoea during the day, and particularly during the morn-
ing, worse after eating and after drinking cold water; with colic;
with every cutting of teeth.
Cholera infantum, complicating dentition, with morning ag-
gravation.
Marasmus of children who have diarrhoea worse in the day-
time, and after eating, with the peculiar sour sweat and stools.
Inactivity of the bowels, the soft stools being evacuated slowly
and with effort. Light-colored stools with enlargement of the liver.
1 8 Pediatric Materia Medica.
Stools hard and dry, especially with an eruption in the bends of
the elbows or in the popliteal spaces.
Very important is the sour odor of the stools a?id perspiration.
The most prominent remedies for sour stools are Mag. carb.,
Calc. ost., Hepar and Rheum.
Larynx and Trachea. Cramp after exposure to dry, cold wind,
with swelling below larynx; hoarseness and rattling of mucus,
which the child is unable to get rid of, but there is little or no
difficulty in breathing; great sensitiveness to cold air; red face,
high fever. Sensation of internal swelling, or as if a fish bone
were in the throat, when swallowing. An aggravation of symp-
toms may take place before midnight, but the most characteristic
aggravation is after midnight or toward morning.
Diphtheritic croup with very great swelling of the glands of the
neck. Very great dyspnoea. A little rattle accompanies the
croupy cough; child sweaty and weak.
During dentition, light attacks of croup.
Violent attacks of croup after influenza; anxious sawing me-
tallic cough, restless, tossing back of head
Violent recurring attacks of croup as if suffocation or vomiting
would ensue.
The child lies with the head thrown back, mouth open, eyes
protruding and face bluish red; very great anxiety and dyspnoea;
unable to speak; grasps at the larynx; body bathed in sweat.
Hepar is sometimes adapted to croup with dryness of larynx
and respiratory passages, whistling respirations, dry cough, with
ineffectual retching; but the typical patient suffers from a deep,
rough, rattling, choking cough, which is much worse after mid-
night or toward morning. The child is hoarse, and chokes with
every coughing spell ; in other words, it coughs into a choke. The
slightest uncovering, even of the hand, induces a spell of cough-
ing. The skin is damp from perspiration.
Croup, with dryness of larynx and respiratory passages,
usually calls for Aconite or Spongia.
Hepar is very frequently indicated after Spongia, and some-
times after Aconite. Hepar needs to be given with caution, even
in late cases of membranous croup, for it is liable to lessen the se-
cretion of mucus, render the cough dry and tight, and increase
the difficulty of breathing. If such a condition should ensue
from the injudicious use of the remedy, it is often advisable to-
administer Spongia.
Pediatric Materia Medica. 19
The presence of mucus, after the administration of Aconite or
Spongia, is often simply a sign of improvement and frequently
does not call for the use of any remedy.
Hepar is not often indicated when the skin is hot and dry.
The child is usually sweaty and weak when this medicine is
specially indicated. It should be differentiated from Kali dick.
and Bromium, both of which are rarely indicated when much
fever is present.
Cough. The child cries when coughing. Croupy, hoarse,
rough cough from exposure to dry, cold wind. Croupy cough
without expectoration, but with rattli?ig in the chest.
Rattling, choki?ig, suffocative , moist cough, worse toward morn-
ing and after eating. Cough worse from evening till midnight.
Cough with expectoration during the day, no expectoration at
night. Whooping-cough when complicated with croup; the
cough sounds croupy, and it seems as if the patient would choke
with the cough; or choking cough without having a croupy
sound; worse toward morning.
Cough when any pa? t of the body is uncovered.
Inner Chest and Lungs. The infant suffers from constant
rattling and mucus in the chest, threatening suffocation at times.
Chronic hepatization of the lungs with tendency for chest and
head to perspire.
Lower Limbs. Hip disease in suppurative stage; patient
wants to be warmly covered. Caries of hip-joint.
Rest. The child unconsciously throws itself about.
Nerves. Convulsions caused by excessive pressure on the
brain during delivery. Trismus of new-born babes.
Sleep. Sleepless after midnight; violent starts when falling
asleep, with fear of suffocation.
Temperature and Weather. Great chilliness in open air;
cannot bear to be uncovered; coughs when any part of the body is
uncovered.
Ailments from dry, cold wind. Child better in damp, wet
weather. The sufferer from hip disease wants to be warmly
covered.
Fever. Anasarca and convulsions after scarlet fever. Scarlet
fever with dropsy; albumin in the urine; bloated face; convul-
sions; nosebleed. Anasarca and ascites after scarlet fever; urine
suppressed; tongue clean; convulsions followed by vomiting;
fully developed dropsy from Bright's disease.
20 Pediatric Materia Medica.
In scarlatina, croupy inflammation of nasal mucous mem-
brane; parotid and submaxillary glands swollen; cylindrical
tubuli and traces of albumin in urine, which is early decreased
in quantity.
Measles, with rattling in chest, with a choking and croupy
cough, which is worse after midnight or in the morning.
Cold, clammy, sour or offensive smelling sweat. The least ex-
ertion causes sweat.
Tissues. The child looks plump, but the flesh is flabby. The
digestion is weak and the child is intolerant of pressure about
the stomach after eating, but food for a time relieves the
debility.
Stools green, watery, undigested, or white, sour smelling and
painlesss; worse during the day.
The glands are swollen and the child is subject to catarrhs
from the least draught of cold air. Eczema, worse in the morn-
ing, when it itches, burns and smarts.
After scarlet fever anasarca with boils in the hairy scalp;
albumin in the urine; submaxillary glands and tonsils enlarged.
Sometimes prevents dropsy after scarlet fever, if given as soon
as traces of albumin are found in the urine.
Child smells sour a?id has white, fetid evacuations.
Skin. Constant offensive exhalations from the body. Child
smells sour. Slightest injury causes suppuration. Skin moist,
unhealthy, suppurating and sensitive to touch. In Sulphur the
skin is dry, itching, better by scratching and not sensitive to
touch.
Miliaria when the eruption comes out in circles {Sepia).
Urticaria with catarrh of the chest, head, etc.
Eczema, spreading by means of new pimples appearing just
beyond the main disease.
Intertrigo which extends by means of pimples which arise
just beyond the raw surface and become involved in the excori-
ation.
Syphilis neonatorum, when the mother has been poisoned by-
mercury.
Sclerus neonatorum with dry, pimply eruptions.
Constitution. Torpid, lymphatic constitution, lax fibre and
light hair and complexion; slow to act. Ulcers, eruptions
and parts affected very sensitive to slightest co?itact. Psora of
children. Children strumous and extremely cross.
Loss of Appetite arid its Treatment. 21
Relations. Hepar is antidoted by Acet. ac, Bell., Cham, and
Sil. Hepar antidotes the bad effects of Mercury, Iodine, Iodide oj
Potash and Cod-liver oil.
Compare. Alumina, Calc. ost., Iodiuvi , Kali, bich., Merc, v.,
Rheum and Sulphur.
Aggravation. Cold air; uncovering; touching the diseased
parts; eating and drinking anything cold; lying on painful side;
abuse of Mercury.
Amelioration. General amelioration from warmth; wrapping
up warmly, especially the head (Psor. Sil.); stomach symptoms
after eating; in damp, wet weather (Caust., Nux).
LOSS OF APPETITE AND ITS TREATMENT.
By Charles W. Mclntyre, M. D.
The loss of appetite — anorexia — is a morbid condition which
is very frequently encountered, and one which demands intelli-
gent consideration at the hands of the profession.
Anorexia may be defined as a condition consequent upon loss
of blood, anaemia, tubercular disease, and almost all conditions
where the glandular structure of the stomach is impaired, or
where there has been considerable drain on the general system.
In a practice covering over thirty years I can say that anaemia
has been the most fruitful cause of loss of appetite. Anaemia,
whether it be from loss of considerable quantities of blood, or
from drain on the albuminoids, or, in fact, from any causation,
is associated in its unfolding with loss of appetite to a greater or
less extent.
Stomach diseases of all types are generally associated with a
greater or less degree of anorexia, except gastric ulcer, and that
often is associated with an appetite that is often almost insati-
able.
It must be borne in mind that loss of appetite entails the
deepening of those conditions which give rise to it, and its treat-
ment is a matter of the greatest importance.
If the anaemic patient can be made to eat, we can rest assured
that the systemic state which called the anorexia into being will
speedily receive a curative quietus.
What can be done for these patients? For a considerable time
the profession have depended upon bitter tonics to a large extent
2 2 Loss of Appetite and its Treatment.
in the treatment of this condition. This treatment could not be
said to be rational because manifestly bitter tonics would act
most prejudicially in some cases.
Their action on the stomach, which in some cases was good,
would work injury by producing irritation. Again, these agents
did practically nothing toward correcting the condition of anae-
mia, which is, to a large extent, responsible for loss of appetite.
Another remedy has been offered the profession for anorexia,
which has in some quarters found favor is Orexin, This agent
is open to the same practical objections that are offered to the
employment of the bitter tonics, that its action is directly on the
stomach. But it must be said that many good observers have
declared Orexin to be inert. I have entirely failed to get any
good results from Orexin, after giving it a good and fair trial.
The remedy I have found to answer my purpose best in treat-
ing anorexia has been Physiological Tonicum (Hensel). This
agent more quickly overcomes the anaemia and gives tone to the
system than any other remedy I have yet found. It is the rule
for the appetite to improve rapidly after the remedy has been
taken for six or seven days, and the patient feels a degree of in-
vigoration which he has not experienced since his appetite had
begun to decline.
The digestion, which is almost always impaired when anorexia
is present, is greatly improved and in a short time is perfect —
after Physiological Tonicum has been taken long enough to exert
its tonic action.
Physiological Tonicum is not attended by the drawbacks which
stand in the way of many remedies of this character. It is
easily taken and does not exert any associated evil effects.
In all cases I insist on my patients taking the remedy until,
by examination of the blood and the condition of the patient,
we know the anaemia has ceased to be a factor.
A young woman applied to the office about two months ago
for treatment of loss of appetite. In consequence of this she
lost weight, and was very pale and weak. This condition she
said had persisted since her recovery from an attack of malarial
fever some months ago. I at once put her on Physiological
Tonicum. A week later she reported to the office that she now
could eat a reasonable meal three times daily. A week further
employment of the Physiological Tonicum showed a remarkable
change in the appearance of this woman. Her color, especially
A Pessimistic View. 23
her lips, which were pale when she began treatment, were now
red, and her appetite was good and her digestion perfect.
Two weeks' further employment found this patient greatly im-
proved in flesh, her strength and vigor were noticeable, and she
was practically well.
A patient who had fallen from a street car platform and sus-
tained a fracture of both femurs was, after the consequent con-
finement of ten weeks indoors and the pain, was now visibly
anaemic and entirely without appetite. He was put on Physiolog-
ical Tonicum. On regular employment of this remedy for two
weeks this patient regained his appetite, and his anaemia was no
longer a factor. As the anaemia in this case was somewhat de-
cided, I think the recovery of this patient proof of the super-
iority of this remedy.
A girl aged seventeen was brought to the office by her mother,
who said her daughter did not eat as much in a week as she
formerly ate in a day. The girl I found to be chlorotic and I
put her on Physiological Tonicum (Hensel), which she took con-
tinually for four weeks. At the end of this time she had a ruddy
complexion, a good appetite, and her menses, which had been
scanty and irregular, were now free and regular. She has now
been attending school for three months, and enjoys excellent
health.
An old gentleman whom I treated last summer for diarrhoea
found himself weak, and without appetite after getting up. After
he had failed to gain his strength to any extent for a month after
getting up he applied for a tonic. He was given Physiological
To7iicum (Hensel), and after taking this remedy for two weeks
his appetite and digestion were good.
He left off the remedy and has since gotten on well.
New Albany, hid.
A PESSIMISTIC VIEW— OLD SCHOOL " HEALING."
Translated for the Homeopathic Recorder from Mittheiluugen f. Bio-
chemi, November, 1900.
We take from the Gesunde Welt, published in Naumburg, the
following declaration of Prof. Dr. Schweninger, for many years
the physician in ordinary of the late Prince Bismarck:
" The fame of the alone saving medical prescription is sunk
to a low ebb. But few physicians at this date believe in cures by
24 A Pessimistic Viezv.
their red, green and white medicines. That is worth noticing-.
We no more deceive ourselves. Still we keep on telling the
laymen many things about which we ourselves make mock.
What our predecessors supposed to be good we still proclaim as
the Gospel, though we know that the message is a false one.
This lamentable state begins at the universities. Here where
the manufacturers of science reside, the successes of chemistry
are invented. When the clinic lecturer has with minute care
dissected before his scholars a case of sickness, then at the con-
clusion of the exposition the farce of therapy begins. Only the
connoisseurs recognize the comic element in the dignified per-
suasive heralding of a clinic fairy-tale.
The results of such an education are fine. After finishing his
university course the student knows nothing of the art of heal-
ing. If he is an independent thinker he will develop his art of
healing according to his own ideas. But such men are the ex-
ception. The physician generally remains on the level which
he occupied when he was examined, and that level is a low one.
The crop of lies sown in the university becomes alive in prac-
tice. Custom so ordains it. It is usual to write prescriptions,
why then object to it? It is a convenient method. We need
only open a manual, and there we shall find: In this disease
use the following drugs. If the physician is gifted with a good
memory he may even do without the manual. All this is harm-
less as yet. But there are other methods which are not so clean.
The patients will not come, unless you will supply them with
magic drops. If they stay away your income will be low. The
love of money and necessity will compel even medical unbe-
lievers to write prescriptions.
Else the patient will not come. They want to be humbugged.
They imagine that no cure is possible without medicine. We
doctors have so long talked about the virtues of the apothecary's
drugs that they at last believe in them. Every day we keep
singing the praises of our pretended work. Every number of
the medical journals brings recommendations of remedies, and
there are even physicians who read them without laughing.
A certain physician who also prescribes without being a
believer gave me a queer reason for his actions. Writing pre-
scriptions, said he, is a psychical method of cure. The patient
is comforted by the idea that he now has curative drops, and
A Pessimistic View. 25
this gives him the power to overcome disease. Still, truth is
worth more than even a pious lie. It will carry you farther.
11 Ut aliquid fiat ." (That we may do something.)
When the anxious mother calls in the doctor, because her
child has bumped its head, or when the tippler shows the wise
man his tongue, or the old maid complains about her cold, then
the lips of the healer utter cunning words, and, " ut aliquid
Hat,'" he dips his pen to write the saving word. He knows very
well that all these ailments will pass away of themselves. But
he must not let them see this!
A little more serious is his declaration in typhus or in pneu-
monia. There is no remedy for these diseases but ' 4 ut aliquid
fiat" he writes his prescription in such cases with an air of
double wisdom. And when the disease is passed, it was the
medicine that helped; but if the patient dies, — the physician
with his prescription has at least done his duty.
Then we have the troops of chronic patients. They often
could be helped. But that would require trouble and reflection.
It is easier to give them a prescription, liut aliquid fiat." Some
change is occasionally made in the prescription; thus the patient
sees that something is being done for him and is contented —
contented at least until he perceives the humbug. Then he
goes to another doctor to go through the same disappointment
again, and so on until he grows embittered and calls in the
surgeon.
Even the incurables are helped (?) by the ipse dixit of the
healer. With anxious eye such patients follow the bold flourish
with which the physician closes his prescription! Reverently
they listen to the wise saws of their physician, confidingly force
down the bitter draughts and they have no idea that their di-
vinity after closing the door shrugs his shoulders and, satisfied
with the benefit conveyed, says to himself: " Ut aliquid fiat."
And so they hope on until death steps to their bed and breaks
the magic vial in their hand. Their lustreless eye still cleaves to
the medicine, and the faltering tongue still essays to utter
thanksgivings to the physician; and we accept these thanks as
the reward of our trouble. We do not feel the mockery of it.
We did our utmost even to the end, and our utmost is i(ut ali-
quid fiat."
26 Intestinal Catarrh in Children.
INTESTINAL CATARRH WITH CONVULSIONS
IN CHILDREN.
By Dr. Berlin, of Guben.
Translated for the HomcEopathic Recorder from the Leipzig. Pop. Z.f.
Horn., November, 1900.
On the 5th of May last I received a hurried call at 3 A. m. to
the three-year old child of U. in this town, as the child was in a
rigor and seemed to have convulsions. The child had spent the
afternoon with her parents in the field, and had, as usual, played
there merrily. In the evening the child did not show the usual
appetite and asked to go to bed at 9 o'clock, which was different
from her wont. The parents found that the child had a hot head,
and thought that she had taken cold. The child went to sleep
right away, but was very restless in her sleep, and this restless-
ness continually increased. Suddenly she raised herself in her
bed and threw herself down with a loud cry. When the mother
came to the bed, the child was rolling her eyes about, twitching
with the face, the hands and the feet, so that it looked as if the
little one was about to die; consciousness had left her. When
I arrived I found the child lying on her side with closed eyes,
while a slight twitching and trembling kept passing through the
whole body; the limbs showed a certain rigidity and were moved
with difiiculty. The convulsions had evidently not wholly dis-
appeared and the child was still unconscious. The bodily tem-
perature, taken in the anus, showed 104.2 F. There was no
cough and the respiration was not noticeably accelerated. What
then was the cause of the convulsisns ? Were they a result of
the quickly rising fever ? For we know that when fever rises
quickly with children they are apt to have convulsions, while
adults in such cases usually have a chill. But where was the
focus of the inflammation indicated by the high fever ? Did it
show merely the consequences of a cold, or was there an organic
disease ? This question was difficult to answer, especially as the
child still continued unconscious. My prescription was Bella-
donna 3, five drops every ten minutes. Compresses around the
head, as cold as practicable, to be changed frequently, a luke-
warm clyster, to be repeated every half hour until it proved
effective, a half bath at 900 F. to be cooled off during its dura-
Cutaneous Disease. 27
tion of ten minutes, until it reached 850 F. Then the child
without being dried off was wrapped up in a bathing- sheet and
laid in her bed, lightly covered. The first clyster was at once
effective, being followed by a thin stool of horribly cadaverous
stench, the evacuation containing a quantity of undigested lentils
which the child had eaten for dinner. After her bath the little
one became quiet, and the feeble twitches gradually ceased, the
limbs were relaxed, and about 4 a. m. the child, still unconscious,
passed into a quiet sleep, attended with a slight perspiration. She
awoke about 9 o'clock, when the mother, busy in the kitchen,
heard her call " Mother." Her consciousness had returned, and
she appeared merry, as if nothing was the matter with her. She
asked for a drink, and later for something to eat. In the after-
noon I found the child playing in her bed, with a temperature of
101.30 F. I ordered her body to be wrapped in a wet sheet for
three or four hours, and another wrapping in the evening. I
allowed her to eat gruel and toast or a stale roll. Xext day the
child was up, without any fever and fully recovered.
CUTANEOUS DISEASES.
By Dr. Ernst Myssens.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from Journal Beige d'Ho-
mceopathie.
The following observations were made in the polyclinic of the
Hahnemannian Benevolent Association, where I have had the
opportunity of observing a number of cases, from which I ex-
cerpt the following :
Psoriasis.
In this disease the remedies were given according to their
special indications, being Pulsatilla 30, 200, and 1000, Borax 30,
Graphites 30, 200, and 1000. External remedies were not given
at all. Often the ailment disappeared after a considerable ag-
gravation caused by the remedy.
I. A woman, twenty-one years of age, had been afflicted for
several years with psoriasis guttata on the arms and legs. From
July 28th to October 6th, 1898, she received Borax, then Sul-
phur up to February 3d, 1899. I was able to convince myself
of her complete cure.
28 Cutaneous Diseases.
II. An unmarried lady, 36 years of age, had suffered for six-
teen years from psoriasis on the forearms and on the lower limbs.
The whole chest also was covered with spots. The hairy scalp
was also seized by it, and the forehead also showed large spots
of psoriasis.
The treatment began on August 1st, 1898. Borax caused a
severe aggravation. Sulphur 200, of which three doses were
given, caused a considerable improvement.
On October 6th the breast and the head were perfectly free
from spots; but there remained a strong inclination on the head
to form dandruff. On the forearm new spots kept forming. This
tendency was diminished by doses of Sulphur and Pulsatilla
given at long intervals. The patient is still under treatment to
guard against a relapse.
III. A school girl, of 13 years, suffered from psoriasis on the
knees and elbows. She began her treatment on February 13th,
1899.
Pulsatilla 30, 200 and 1000 produced a fearful aggravation.
The whole body, especially also the forearms and legs are cov-
ered with spots which keep scaling off. The aggravation was
successfully combated with Borax 30. Then Pulsatilla 30 and
200 produced a complete cure, which I was enabled to verify by
inspection on Jan. 26th, 1900.
IV. A woman, aged 38, was suffering from psoriasis guttata.
Her treatment began on July 26th, 1899. Pulsatilla 30, 200 and
1000, Graphites 30, 200 and 1000 overcame the ailment, which
showed itself perfectly cured on November 29th, 1899.
Pruritus Essentialis.
I. A widow, 68 years old, a dealer in linen goods, had suffered
from her childhood from an intolerable itching along the tibia.
The skin of the legs had become hard and horny from scratch-
ing. The patient had received a single dose once a week from
August 19th to September 2d, the medicine being Suphur 30,
200 and 1000. This caused an aggravation followed by a slight
improvement. On September 27th she received Graphites 30.
Seven doses given as above produced a frightful aggravation.
A general cutaneous eruption developed; the hands were cov-
ered with scabs, the axillary glands swelled up.
Belladorma and Mercur. sol. 12 in alternation for 8 days
assuaged these symptoms. Nov. 1st a dose of Sulphur 1000 was
Cases From My Practice. 29
again given. This was quickly followed by improvement and
the patient presented herself fully cured on November 29th, 1898.
II. A saloon keeper, aged 51 years, had suffered since his
youth from an itching of his legs, especially his right leg. On
December 2d, 1897, he received a dose of Sulphur 1000.
On December 23d a dose of Psoricum 1000, later on repeatedly
Psoricum 200 and 30; in conclusion he received Sulphur 30. On
May 5th, 1898, he was perfectly cured.
Lupus Erythematosum.
A woman, 63 years old, came to my office on August 12th,
1898, with lupus erythematosum on her left cheek.
Sulphur 30 followed by Arsenicum alb. caused the spot to
become paler. Beginning with August 30th she received Arsen-
icum alb. 3 for 14 days, causing aggravation writh considerable
itching. After the cessation of the remedy there was a steady
improvement. She was fully cured by October 4th.
CASES FROM MY PRACTICE.
By Dr. Mossa, Stuttgart.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
November, 1900.
The two cases given here are reported especially on account of
the rare and in part peculiar grouping of symptoms presented.
Case I. A married man, 26 years of age, a builder, had been
afflicted eight days before he called on me with catarrh accom-
panied with symptoms of influenza. The catarrh had suddenly
disappeared, and was succeeded by the following symptoms: A
sort of spasm in the middle part of the oesophagus, so that every-
thing he swallowed, whether liquid or solid, when it reached
that place was arrested there and the patient had to press down
and bend over before the ingesta could progress any farther.
When this spasm of the oesophagus ceased, at once there ap-
peared^syinptoms in the left ear; he had a sensation of fulness
and pressure in the ear, accompanied with a rushing noise as of
a torrent. The other symptoms were: pressure and oppression
on the lower part of the chest, chronic catarrh of the throat with
much expectoration of mucus (when a child the patient had had
diphtheria several times); the tongue was coated, and there was
but little appetite. Nineteen years before the patient, owing to
3<3 Cases From My Practice.
a fall, had a contusion of the cardiac region leaving palpitation
of the heart, and probably also more serious sequelae, for he was
dispensed from military service owing to a cardiac ailment.
There is still some hypertrophy remaining, the dulness on the
border of the sternum is considerably augmented and the cardiac
sounds are strikingly loud, so that they can be heard all over the
thorax. The pulse is small and frequent. Connected with the
rushing sound in the ear is also some vertigo and some uncer-
tainty in the gait; the hearing on the left side is much weakened.
An additional symptom is the pronounced grayish-yellow com-
plexion.
Less on account of the physiological connection of the phe-
nomena, which were not sufficiently perspicuous, than from the
complex of the symptoms Iodium seemed indicated in the case
and was given in the sixth dilution, five drops three times a
day. The spasm of the oesophagus was first to yield, the morbid
symptoms in the left ear continued for some time, from Sep-
tember 20th to October 5th. While the patient on the latter
date, in cold weather, was proceeding to his business he was
seized with a shaking chill and severe fever, while the ear symp-
toms recurred in full strength so that he had to take his bed.
He received Pulsatilla 30, dissolved in water. After a copious
perspiration, the attack was thrown off and he was fully restored.
Case II. An apprentice of a blacksmith, fourteen years old,
was for eight days seized with a violent pressive pain i?i the fore-
head, especially above the right superciliary arch, the attack
coming on between five and six o'clock in the evening attended
with heat, while drops of sweat stood on his forehead; there was
at the same time severe pain in the right eye; there was a dull
pressure. The pains after a time diminished, so that he could
sleep well. There was no pain on external pressure. Another
striking feature was the presence of a number of papulous and
pustulous eruptions in the face and on the forehead. The whole
gave the impression of a periodical, intermittent supra orbital
neuralgia.
Belladonna and Chi?ia were considered among the suitable
remedies; but, in view of the cutaneous eruption, Sulphur was
selected, especially as this remedy is also characterized by
pressive pains and, as Dr. Farrington says, is frequently indi-
cated in malarial neuralgia appearing in the face and returning
periodically. In eight days the neuralgia ceased,- but there was
Chelidonium in Whooping- Cough. 31
formed above the canthus internus of the right eye, an elastic
red swelling, which soon reached the size of a plum and caused
such violent pains that the patient had to cease working. A
poultice was applied, which caused the swelling to soften and to
diminish, moving downward and plainly showing fluctuation.
Since the pain was intolerable the swelling was lanced, when it
discharged blood and pus, after which the pain disappeared. An
interesting feature was the spreading of the morbid process from
the sensitive fibres of the trigeminus to the vasomotory or
trophic fibres.
CHELIDONIUM IN WHOOPING-COUGH.
By Dr. Jean Dewee.
A boy of four years had been suffering for seven months from
whooping-cough; the little patient had a cachectic appearance,
a yellowish-gray complexion and was emaciated to a mere
skeleton. Besides the whooping-cough, the child had a general
bronchial catarrh and the broncho tracheal glands were enor-
mously swollen. At every attack of the cough there followed
vomiting of bile and of food; besides this, the liver was swollen
and there was an obstinate constipation. Chelidonium was
plainly indicated and the patient received it in the sixth dilu-
tion. In five days the irritation causing the cough was removed
so entirely that the parents were frightened and did not dare to
continue the medicine. At the conclusion of the second week
the child was fully recovered.
Since then the child had every winter, especially on wet days,
some attacks of congestion of the glands of the chest, accom-
panied with rattling and a cough resembling whooping-cough,
but a few doses of Chelidonium always sufficed to remove the
slight attack.
Chelidonium was well indicated in the case; for it has "a
spasmodic cough which wakes up the child by night, the affec-
tion extending to the bronchia and attended with constriction of
the chest." A second indication was the congestion of the liver;
although this is not one of the usual symptoms of whooping-
cough, it not unfrequently attends long-continued cases of the
disease, as the lungs in part become emphysematous and con-
siderably impair the circulation. The physiological consequence
of the congestion of the liver appeared in this case in the consti-
pation and in the yellowish, icteric complexion of the patient.— 7
Translated from the Journal beige d' Homceopathie.
3 2 Vrong Grammatical Point of View
CURENTUR WRONG FROM THE GRAMMATICAL
POINT OF VIEW.
I >i of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
I did not calculate to write any more on the curantai question,
as I had sufficiently shown in the September issue, from a gram-
matical point of view, that, in the first place, both moods, the
icative and the conjunctive 'subjunctive), could not be in-
discriminately applied to one and the same purpose without
transgressing certain rule- laid down in the Latin grammar, and
that in the second place, curantur indicative mood) is the only
correct form in which the verb of that famous sentence could
possibly be correctly rendered.
Being, however, attacked from three sides and accused of
doing injustice to Hahnemann by my testimony to the cor-
rectness of the hitherto known formula of the motto in question,
I feel in duty bound to take up my pen once more in order to
defend myself and the cause of this pending controversy.
My appeal to the profession to search Hahnemann's orig-
inal works in his own language has not been quite in vain,
as there has been -ome searching done: hrst, in an American
translation of the Organon of the healing art. by Dr. C. Hering:
then in a reprint of the same work by Dr. A. Lutze. in the Ger-
man language, and at last in Hahnemann's original works, in
all of which the verb in question has been found to be curentur,
the conjunctive subjunctive) mood. It is. however, admitted
bv one of my worthy critics that in his research he found • in
Ameke's History of Homoeopathy at least two of Hahnemann's
contemporaries, who. in reviewing his work, use the phrase
similia similibus curaiitur. For some reason or other the names
are withheld. Were they, perhaps, identical with the names
ve mentioned ?
As a result of their research my worthy opponents have come
to the conclusion that : proper word and that
Hahnemann used it so. One of the trio is even going so far as
nake the bold assertion that Hahnemann never and in no
rantur. Fin oth forms in print, are they not
re that one or the other must be a misprint ? Misprints
may and do occur in the work of any author, Hering. Lutze and
Hahnemann not being excepted. In the British translation cf
Cure lit u r Wrong from the Grammatical Point of View. 33
the Organon those misprints occur so often that even homoeo-
pathic physicians of great fame cannot any more discover be-
tween the true and wrong form of the verb connected with the
matter, taking curentur for the one proper and believe for them-
selves and persuade others that Hahnemann always said so.
Have my worthy opponents tried to disprove my statements
as to the true form of the verb in question from the Latin
grammar0 Not in the least! Their only foothold is the larger
number of the wrongly spelled verb, those misprints occurring
more or less in various editions of the Orga?ion. This being the
case, I ask to be allowed to show once more from the Latin
grammar that curantur be the only true form of that verb, and
that wherever curentur takes its place, no matter in what author's
work, it is a mistake or misprint, and as such to be considered
and corrected.
What is said of the motto of the Homoeopathic school holds
good also for the motto of the Allopathic school. There is no
difference in the two mottoes — as far as the verb is concerned.
I wish to show in the first place the difference between the in-
dicative and the conjunctive (subjunctive) mood, the two moods
concerned in this pending controversy. According to Solomon
Bassett, Jr , in his principles of grammar on the English, Latin,
Greek, German, Spanish and French languages, the indicative is
the mood of direct assertion, by the way — the only admissible
form for a sentence claiming to be a motto. The subjunctive
(conjunctive) mood is the mood of dependency, a mood depend-
ing on some other part of speech, expressing that the action or
existence is possible or contingent; as, for instance: ''it may
rain," "if John weep." Xow as the verb of the motto is ren-
dered in the passive voice, let me show here, for an instance, how
that great linguist is treating the subjunctive ('conjunctive)
mood, of the passive voice, the present tense of the Latin verb
"amare," to love, this being the sample-verb for the first con-
jugation in any Latin grammar, as far as I know.
First person singular, amer, I may be loved.
Third person singular, ametur, he, she, it may be loved.
First person plural, amemur, we may be loved.
Third person plural, amentur, they may be loved.
According to the above the verb " curare," the verb connected
with the motto, which is also flexed according to the first con-
34 Curentur Wrong front the Grammatical Point of View.
jugation, and which Hahnemann used in the sense "to cure,"
and not to treat, as will be shown further on, as follows:
First person singular, curer, I may be cured.
Third person singular, curetnr, he, she, it may be cured.
First person plural, curemur, we may be cured.
Third person plural, curentur, they may be cured.
The latter is the form unanimously adopted by the A. I. H.
It will be seen from the foregoing table that the true and cor-
rect interpretation of the motto in its new form into the English
language is: "Alikes may be cured by alikes," or, what is the
same: " Similars may be cured by similars." Accordingly a cure
is effected on certain conditions only, whatever those may be —
Hahnemann's certainty and reliability of a cure by his remedies
is put aside, and uncertainty and doubt has taken the place
thereof.
But my worthy opponents have the revision into the English
language different from the above, as may be seen on page 456
in the October issue of the Recorder, it being "Let likes be
treated by likes," or, " Likes should be treated by likes," and
of that translation it is said: "That Hahnemann doubtless in-
tended so to read." Quite a similar translation is given by Dr.
W. H. B., on page 77 in the February issue, and from his paper
we may learn the reason why the Latin verb "curare" is trans-
lated into the English language not by "to cure," but by "to
treat;" the reason given is, because the Latin verb "curare"
means primarily to care, to take care of, " to treat," and second-
arily only it means " to heal, to cure, and to restore to health."
Now, while this is true, it does not prove in the least that Hah-
nemann was forced in his choice of the meaning of said verb to
use the same in its primary indication. Neither the primary nor
the secondary nor even the tertiary indication of the verb has
any weight in this matter, since it is depending from first to last
upon the sense or meaning the one who is using the verb
wishes to express by it. The question, therefore, arises, in what
sense did Hahnemann intend to use the verb "curare," which
he framed in his motto? The answer may be easily found by
studying to some extent the life of that great physician. Think
of his tender feeling towards his fellowmen in general, and as a
physician towards his patients in particular; how he considered
it his chief vocation and first duty (as a physician) not to treat,
but to cure his patients; how he learned from sad experience
Curentur Wrong from the Grammatical Point of View. 35
more and more that under the banner of the Old School, to
which he then did belong, real and permanent cures were im-
possible; how he, in utter despair, laid down his medical arma-
ments because not being able in the hitherto known way to
cure his patients; how he became the reformer of the healing art,
the founder of a new school of the medical profession; how, after
continued studies and experimenting with remedies on the
healthy and on the sick, a new way of cure was revealed to him,
as by Divine Providence — anyone, acquainted with the life of
that great physician, will not doubt that Hahnemann, with the
motto similia similibus curantur, meant to say in the English:
A" Similars are cured by similars ," or, in other words, as he ex-
plains it himself in the Organon, "A disease produced in the
healthy by a remedy, given in crude form and in large doses, is
cured in the sick by that same remedy prepared according to
the homoeopathic rule and given in small doses."
That this is the true motto and also the correct interpretation
of the same into the English language I take pleasure in refer-
ring the kind reader to a prominent work in point, the fifteenth
edition of Heyre's book of foreign words (Heyre's Fremd-
wcerter-buch), printed for Mr. Hahn's book store to the Court,
Hannover, Germany, 1873. In the same we find under the
Latin adjective, similis, e, the following phrase: "Similia
similibus curantur" (Grundsatz der Homceopathie) rendered in
English: Similars are cured by similars (Rule or Motto 01 the
Homoeopathic school), and under the Latin adjective: contrarius,
a, um, we find the following phrase: " Contraria contrariis
curantur." Entgegengesetztes wird mit Entgegengesetzten
geheilt (Grundsatz der Allceopathie), this rendered into English
means: '* Opposites are cured by opposites," (Rule or Motto of
the Allceopathie school). Here we have the two mottoes, that
of the Homoeopathic and tnat of the Allceopathie school cor-
rectly given in their original formulas and also correctly trans-
lated into the English and German languages, the verb being
translated by cured not by treated. The author of the above
mentioned work has had no interest whatever in either way of
spelling the verb connected with the two matters; he gives that
what he has seen and heard, and what he has found in con-
formity with the Latin grammar, of which he was an expert of
extraordinary standing, as may be seen from the contents of his
useful work.
36 Cur entity Wrong from tne Grammatical Point of Viefjo.
Now, if any more proof is wanted of the correctness and origi-
nality of the old formula of the homoeopathic motto: " Similia
similibus curantur" I have no hesitation to mention as such the
fact that it is thus found on all monuments, at least in the old
country, erected in honor of S. Hahnemann; also on all busts
and portraits that are to remind us of that great physician and
leader. In this connection mention may also be made of the point
that many of the homoeopathic colleges in this country have the
diploma with which they authorize their graduates to practice
medicine and surgery under the banner of the homoeopathic
school, adorned with the motto in the old and well-known
formula as a handsome and significant heading; and, I am happy
to say, that my famous Alma Mater, the Homoeopathic Medical
College of Chicago, is one of them, and the many hundreds of
graduates of that institution may be proud of being honored with
a diploma of that kind, as I am myself, and would not have it
altered for anything ! Should all this have been done by a
grand mistake during the now closed 19th century ?
Now, all what I have said in this and my former pages in
proof and defence of the correctness of the motto: " Similia
similibus cura?itur" from a grammatical point of view, I here-
with challenge any well-posted Latinist in this and any country,
where this journal is read, to say whether or not I am justified
in my statements.
I can not close this paper without giving expression on the
one hand, to my great surprise, that so little is written in our
medical journals in defence of the old formula of that famous
motto, left by Hahnemann to his adherents and followers as a
precious inheritence for safe keeping — and, on the other hand,
to my deeply felt gratitude, that during the whole year during
which this controversy is going on at least one letter has been ad-
dressed to me, though privately, with consenting and encourag-
ing words from a highly esteemed brother- physician from the far
Bast. Said letter was written in response to my paper published
in the May issue, and commenced as follows, viz:
Dear Doctor : (Unknown to me) I have just read your com-
munication in the May number of the Homoeopathic Recorder,
and I wish to say Amen to it * * * *
Very respectfully,
Yours truly,
Columbus, Neb. E. G. H. Miessler.
Chicago Medical Societies. $7
CHICAGO MEDICAL SOCIETIES.
There are four medical societies in Chicago made up of mem-
bers of the homoeopathic fraternity.
I.
One is the Old Guard, physicians whose diplomas are dated
thirty years back. The oldest physician presides. At the last
meeting it was Dr. Adam Miller, whose diploma is of the vintage
of '47, and who was made a member of the American Institute
in 1848. The vice president is Dr. J. G. Grols, who graduated
from the old Pennsylvania Homoeopathic College in 1850. Dr. T.
C. Duncan, of '66, of Hahnemann, Chicago, is the moving
spirit.
The membership includes all the old physicians of Chicago
and vicinity. Dr. H. B. Fellows, who died December 16, was a
member. He was an active physician in New York State for
man}- years; came to Chicago before the fire, was an active
teacher in Hahnemann Medical College, and finally Dean.
Paresis gradually impeded his usefulness. He was noted as a
lhard, earnest student.
II.
The Clinical Society of Hahnemann College meets monthly at
the college building, and the papers presented and the discus-
sions held thereon all appear in the college organ, The Clinique.
III.
The last meeting of the Chicago Society (which is supposed to
be a union society, having absorbed the Cook County Society),
Iheld December 20 at the Great Northern Hotel, was a small
gathering. Perhaps it was because so near Xmas, or because
the colleges were out, or because the first paper was by a woman
on a Materia Medica topic. We were to hear of the virtues of
Tarentula cubensis. Prof. H. Farrington was there to discuss it,
but the essayist, Dr. Mary Hawks, failed to appear. She sent
lier regrets — " Was too busy to write it." So the members were
disappointed.
But the next essayist, Prof. Shears, kept his appointment, and
gave an excellent paper on the " Repair of the Vaginal Outlet "
after labor. He described several forms of laceration, one often
overlooked when the muscle and fascia were torn, but the mucous
38 Book Notices.
membrane remained intact. He advised immediate repair and
deep stitches.
Dr. did not like the catgut or silk-worm gut sutures;
he preferred silk as most comfortable for the patient.
Dr. Kalke could add little to what had. been given by the
essayist. He quoted observations in Europe and the precautions
used against infection.
The last paper on "Uraemia of Elderly Men," by Prof. C.
Mitchell, emphasized the fact that there was a condition of the
system where the urine did not show much lack of urea, but the
system seemed to absorb it and ursemic symptoms developed,
while there was no Bright's disease.
This paper was discussed by Prof. Weiland, who cited a case
where a light diet had greatly increased the amount of urea.
This was the most technical exhibit yet presented and was
highly enjoyed.
IV.
The Materia Medica Society, that has been quiescent, held its
annual meeting and elected the following officers: President, Dr.
H. C. Evans; vice president, Dr. A. H. Woodward; secretaries,
Dr. P. S. Replogle and Anna Doyen; censors, Drs. R. N. Morris,
E. R. Mclntyer and T. C. Duncan.
Dr. Morris reported a case of Merc, bichlor. poisoning in a
sanguine man where bloody urine, bloody stools and vomiting-
were the chief symptoms. The usual symptoms of prostration
and perspiration were absent. This case adds to our knowledge
of the action of this form of Merc, that is used so freely as a bed-
bug poison. The next drug to be considered is Silicea.
There is another medical society in Chicago that meets in
Englewood, of which Prof. J. B. S. King is president. They
have very interesting meetings, I am told. ***
BOOK NOTICES.
American Text-Book of Physiology. Edited by William H.
Howell, Ph. D., M. D., Professor of Physiology in Johns Hop-
kins University. Vol. II, royal octavo, of nearly 600 pages,
fully illustrated. Cloth, $3.00, net; sheep or half morocco,
$3.75, net. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co.
1900.
Book Notices. 39
Even in the short time that has elapsed since the first edition
of this work there has been much progress in Physiology, and
in this edition the book has been thoroughly revised to keep pace
with this progress. The result is that the American Text- Book
now represents the most modern work on Physiology. State-
ments and theories that have been shown to be wrong or im-
probable have been eliminated, and new facts discovered and the
newer points of view have been incorporated.
The chapter upon the Central Nervous System has been en-
tirely rewritten in the light of the latest knowledge, with the
intention of rendering this important branch of the subject suit-
able to the needs of students and practitioners. A section on
Physical Chemistry forms a valuable addition, since these views
are taking a large part in current discussion in physiological and
medical literature.
The first edition of this work was pronounced to be the best
exposition of the present status of the science of Physiology in
the English language, and in its revised form the book will
doubtless remain the leading work on Physiology for students
and practitioners. The subjects comprised in this volume are:
Muscle and Nerves; Central Nervous System; Special Senses;
Special Muscular Mechanism, and Reproduction.
King's American Dispensatory. New edition. Entirely re-
written and enlarged, by Harvey W. Felter, M. D., Adjunct
Professor of Chemistry in the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cin-
cinnati, O.; Co-editor Locke's Materia Medica and Thera-
peutics; Ex-President Ohio State Eclectic Medical Associa-
tion, etc., etc., and John Uri Lloyd, Ph. M., Professor of
Chemistry and Pharmacy in the Eclectic Medical Institute,
Cincinnati, O.; formerly Professor of Pharmacy in the Cin-
cinnati] College of Pharmacy; Ex President of the American
Pharmaceutical Association; Author of the Chemistry of
Medicines; Drugs and Medicines of North America; Etidorhpa,
etc., etc. Two volume edition, royal octavo, containing to-
gether 22S4 pages, including complete Indices. Cloth, $4.50
per volume, post paid. Sheep, $5 per volume, post paid. The
Ohio Valley Company, Publishers, Cincinnati, O.
This issue has been entirely rewritten and is the standard dis-
pensatory of the Eclectic school, first issued in 1854. This is
4-0 Book Notices.
the eighteenth eittio 1 of th* work and third revision of this
dispensatory, and it occupies the sarn^ position in the Eclectic
school of medicine as the Nationil or United States Dispen-
satories in the regular profession.
The new edition preserves the important original matter by
Prof. King, found in previous editions, which wju for it popu-
larity. In other directions it has been revised and rearranged
on every page in conformity to the advances of the Eclectic
school, and contains much recent matter not found in other dis-
pensatories.
Free Thought; or, the Coming Dispensation. By Richard
Bewley, M. D. 109 pages. Cloth, $1.00. Published by the
author.
Dr. Bewley is a homoeopathic physician of Philadelphia, and
has written this little book of fifteen essays in no uncertain tone;
but whether it will b? acceptable depends on your way of look-
ing at things. It is at least interesting. Here is a bit by which
you can sample the work: " Some of our preachers point to the
wonderful spread of the Christian religion as a proof of its
divinity; but they forget to tell us that the Mohammedans far
outnumber the Christians at the present time, and that Mahomet
was not born until several centuries after the time of Jesus. So
that if rapid growth determines the matter, Mohammedanism
would be a great deal more divine than Christianity."
" ' The tree is known by its fruits.' Look around and see how
crime of every kind abounds in Christian countries."
"It is a common saying cf unthinking Christians that the
spirits of the dead cannot return. * * * What miserable reason-
ing is this, and what a poor state of mind it shows."
" There are many other ways in which the knowledge of spirit
presence and communion will be of the greatest importance and
benefit to mankind."
The Cleveland Plaindealer of December 23 contains the follow-
ing item about Dr. George H. Quay and his book on Nose and
Throat, under the heading "A Cleveland Medical Text Book!"
"Dr. George H. Quay, professor of rhinology and laryngology
in the Cleveland Medical College, and chief of consulting staff in
this department of the Huron Street Hospital, some time since
published "A Monograph of Diseases of the Nose and Throat,"
Book Notices. 41
which was received with such favor by the medical profession
that it has become the text book on the subject in nearly all the
colleges in the country. It has attracted so much attention
abroad, as well as in this country, that the author recently re-
ceived an application from the University of Madrid for permis-
sion to translate into Spanish for use as a text book in that
university. A second edition of the work has just been issued
in Philadelphia by Boericke & Tafel, with a dedication 'to the
memory of Prof. Nathaniel Schneider, M. D.,' the author's
'preceptor and early guide in the study of medicine.' Dr. Quay
explains that the book is the outcome of an experience in the
general practice of medicine, which was not small, supplemented
by several years of exclusively nose, throat and ear work. It is
designed for two classes of readers, students and teachers who
stand in need of a condensed work on the subject dealt with, and
general practitioners who have neither the time nor the inclina-
tion to wade through a volume of rhinology and laryngology
which deals with exhaustive details, though a working knowl-
edge of the diseases of the nose and throat is absolutely necessary
to the successful physician."
Practical Homceopathic Therapeutics. — To quote from
the author: "The work has been undertaken, therefore, to sup-
ply the practitioner of homoeopathic medicine with reliable,
practical and condensed indications for the more important reme-
dies in disease. It differs from the various works on the prac-
tice of medicine in that it is exclusively devoted to Homoe-
opathy, and from works on Materia Medica, as it treats only of
therapeutics." And right well has Dr. Dewey fulfilled these
conditions. Written in the terse and forceful style peculiar to
the author, we have a work of pre eminent usefulness.
The work does not purport to give all the remedies indicated
in any disease, but those which have been most useful, and
under each remedy are given a few leading, differentiating symp-
toms, such as can be readily learned.
The value of this work to the student, or rather to his under-
graduate for all physicians should all at times be students, and
also to the young practitioner in his first year of practice, cannot
be overestimated, and we feel sure the older men of wider experi-
ence will also find many valuable hints in this book.
The book teems with those terse phrases and striking com-
42 Book Notices.
parisons which we occasionally come across in our Materia
Medicas, and which, when once learned are so readily recalled,
and it is just these striking and brilliant indications which are
of great value in leading to a close prescription.
We can say that the more we have used the book the more
we have been convinced of its usefulness. — The Chironiaii.
Enlarged Tonsils.— It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of
the supposed crime of Homoeopathy in disregarding pathology,
a number of expert pathologists, four or five of them professors
of pathology in allopathic schools and universities, have joined
the ranks of the homoeopaths. Indeed, it is only homoeopaths
who have any chance of understanding real live pathology at all.
Morbid anatomy, it is true, may be investigated successfully by
allopaths, but that is as dead as their therapeutics. It performs
the same function in regard to living pathology that the under-
taker does to the doctor. The natural history of bacteria may
be studied by allopaths, and a very important study it is. But
it is only homoeopaths wTho can fully appreciate the bearings of
the study and turn it to the best account; and it is not all
homoeopaths who can do this. Those of us w7ho come " trailing
clouds" of anything but therapeutic glory from our allopathic
training schools have to divest our minds of these clouds before
we can see anything as it really is; wre only see through the fog
of academic teaching, and everything we look at is colored with
the opinions of others. It is the natural tendency of human
minds to seek authorities and companions, and most of the time
when we think wre are original and thinking our own thoughts
the thoughts are those of other people.
But when a mind is free enough to strike out a new thought
and strong enough to successfully plant it, there is an attractive-
ness about the thought and the thinker that cannot be withstood,
though all the academies in the world combine against them. It
is so with Hahnemann and the homoeopathic idea. And it is the
perfect emancipation from the academic notions of pathology and
therapeutics that give all Dr. Burnett's writings such a freshness
and charm. His newest work on Enlarged Tonsils is as full of
interest and of pathological and therapeutic insight as any of its
predecessors. Enlarged tonsils, says Burnett, are not ill of
themselves, but only vicariously, and it is the patient who needs
curing, and not the tonsils lopping off. The method of some
Book Notices. 43
homoeopaths, says Dr. Burnett, when confronted with a case of
enlarged tonsils, is to give Baryt. carb. for a week or two, and if
they are not nearly gone by that time to conclude that " medi-
cine having been tried and failed " the case is one for operation.
But Baryt. carb. is no panacea for enlarged tonsils: it will only
cure its own cases. And in any event constitutions are not
usually cured in three weeks or three months. Dr. Burnett very
aptly compares the physician's functions to those of the gardener.
Both bear the same attitude towards natural forces. We com-
mend the entire work, and this passage (p. 18) in particular, to
the careful attention of homoeopaths. Dr. Burnett has done the
editor of this journal the honor of appropriating (with full ac-
knowledgment) a chapter out of a work of his own on a kindred
topic {Diseases of the Glands and Bones). We have taken so
many invaluable " leaves " out of Dr. Burnett's "book" that
he is fully entitled to help himself to anything we have pub-
lished. There is one thing quite certain, the adopted chapter is
in no way a loser by its new setting.
A strike among the pressmen at the house printing Hel-
muth's Various Verses has much delayed that dainty little
volume, 'to the great regret of the publishers, Messrs. Boericke &
Tafel. It is hoped, however, to have it out by the 15th of this
month, but to late for notice in this issue of the Recorder.
Another book of the same publishers is the A, B, C Manual
of Materia Medica, by G. Hardy Clarke, M. D., late Professor of
Materia Medica at one of the Chicago Homoeopathic Colleges. It
is an attempt to give the students that which Dr. Clarke dis-
covered they wanted in a Materia Medica. The book is a strik-
ing one and a bold departure in some respects and will make a
stir.
Dr. Bradford, the indefatigable bibliographer of Homoe-
opathy, has another of his books in press, a book representing
the maximum of labor with the prospect of the minimum of
recompense. Thank heaven for men like Bradford, who labor
for the love of the good work. This particular book is an Index
to Homoeopathic Provings, giving the place where every drug prov-
ing ever made may be found. A dry subject, but every student
will appreciate the value of such work, and also have some
notion of the immense labor involved in making such a collection.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
The Recorder now enters upon its sixteenth year, with a
subscription list that any one would be proud of, both as regards
number and the men composing it. We have never offered
thermometers, or old books, or " premiums," and trust we never
shall. If a journal is not worth its price a "premium" does
not enhance its value, and is a confession that the price is ex-
horbitant. We respectfully solicit your subscriptions.
Dr. T. F. Allen's paper in this number is worthy of careful
reading and thought. That way lies true success in medicine.
Our friend, Dr. Meissler, puts up a pretty stiff argument again
on the Curcmtur question. He might have added that on the
medal found in Hahnemann's grave it was spelled Ciira?itur.
The following is a true story, though there is no need to name
names or give places. A young man was taken sick with a fever,
and, as is now required, certain parts of him were taken to a
bacteriologist — no small-fry, either — who went through the
usual pow-wow, and, as usual, never having seen the patient,
diagnosed a case of typhoid fever. On this the next regular
thing to do was to cool down the patient in a tub of water,
which was done — why it is done, seeing that it cannot reach
the seat of disease, no one knows. After the fourth or the fifth
day of this dousing the patient broke out in numerous spots and
an old doctor gently whispered, "small-pox." And now they
are wondering if bacteriology is as infallible as it assumes to be.
In small doses, one to five drops of the tincture, ]rerbc)ia
hastata is said to be excellent in gastric irritation; also in cases
of debility and anorexia.
Editorial. 45
In cases of neuralgia of long standing, or constantly recurring,
Melilotus off. may prove to be the remedy. It sometimes acts
magically in ovarian neuralgia; also in gastralgia, neuralgia of
the stomach or of the abdominal viscera.
Do not forget Mezereitm in skin diseases, red smarting and itch-
ing; in circumscribed spots that itch violently at intervals, or
where the scratching has made the parts raw.
When secretions of the mouth give a white glaze to surface of
mouth, especially in children, Phytolacca is a remedy to be con-
sidered,
Olive oil is safest for the constipated baby.
The Eclectic authorities say that Lobelia is one of the best
drugs known to overcome habitual constipation or intestinal
atony. Also that all forms of chronic sore throat are benefited
by it.
Don't forget Rheum when dealing with a sour — physically
sour, of course — baby.
Time and again Lycopus Vir. will do better than Digitalis
when the latter is given in material doses. For a heart
"specific," however, Cratcsgus ox. 0 surpasses all other remedies.
You will often meet something like this: "Dr. says that
the Rhus patient has to move to obtain relief, is better by motion,
while the Bryonia patient is worse from motion."
As a matter of fact, Hahnemann said it, or the substance of it.
lF-,the homoeopathic doctor who uses fluid extracts because
they are "stronger" than tinctures could peep behind the
scenes, he wouldn't do so any more. Really, they are unfit for
use in homoeopathic practice.
Frequent twisting pains in the region of the umbilicus with
severe constipation is a good old call for Plumbum.
Dr. Roberts' papers on "Pediatric Materia Medica " are of
exceptional value to all interested in treating children.
46 Editorial.
Dr. F. SemkIvKdkr, writing from Cordoba, Mexico, to Med-
ical Record of December 29th says:
" There is a railroad being built from here running south and
east to join the railroad of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at a cer-
tain place. At a distance of 93 km. from Cordoba is a marshy
plain with a few houses and no drinkable water. The place is
called ' Tierra blanca.' When I went there I was greatly sur-
prised not to find any mosquitos, and yet the place is a first-class
malaria breeder."
Miss R. E. Young, late manager of the Medical Century, has
blossomed forth into a contributor to the select pages of the At-
lantic Monthly (January). It is a combination of story, and
study, of a young homoeopathic physician who went forth with
the high purposes instilled into his mind by " Dean Alden," of
the Homoeopathic Medical College in Chicago. Dean Alden, by
the change of a letter, becomes Dean Allen, with probably the
initial H. C. The young man, in our term, not Miss Young's,
bumps up against hard luck, in each place he tries to locate —
the hard luck of no patients. In his extremity he wins a lot of
money by writing the prize essay offered by a homoeopathic
medical journal, which enables him to buy some new shoes, of
which he is sadly in need. Here between the lines we see the
genial face of our friend and brother Smith. By the by, what
has become of that essay ? With this windfall our hero seeks
new fields, and runs across a classmate who is prospering ex-
ceedingly on the rankest kind of quackery. Is offered a job in
the concern and refuses it, preferring to maintain the high ideals
of a physician taught him by Dean Allen. The story is well
told and is interesting, though the ending is simply chopped off
square, and the doctor who believes that the only duty of the
physician is to heal the sick, is left with only a portion of brother
Smith's dollars in his pocket and no prospects, while the other,
who believes that the only duty of the doctor is to make money
out of the sick, is rapidly swelling his bank account.
What a grand thing it would be if we could have something
to drop on the printed page that would test its truth! For in-
stance, one of the Philadelphia papers publishes a report of a Mrs.
Newton who, after consulting many physicians, went to Cooper
Hospital, at Camden, N. J., where the previous diagnosis was
Editorial. 47
confirmed "double senile cataract." " They began to treat her
eyes with a deccction of the succus cineraria plant, which is only
found in the torrid zone. It is so powerful that by dropbing it
into the eye the cataract dissolves without injuring the eye, She
was treated twice each week. Her vision gradually returned,
and yesterday she was able to distinguish objects and walked
from the hospital."
This drug, almost from its start, has been handicapped by rank
advertising methods, and by the almost prohibitory price put on
the imported article by the New York house that brings it to
this country.
It is a pity that its merits could not be definitely determined,
if it has any, for if it will remove cataract it is an exceeding
valuable drug, while if it will not, the sooner the truth is known
the better.
Be it known that this is no joke, but is an outline of Herr
Professor Koch's lecture on malaria — or a part of it: His con-
clusion is, that though the germ of malaria was first brought to
humanity by gnat bites, yet the permanent home of the germ is
in the human body and passed by gnats (mosquitos?) from one
human being to another; therefore it is more important to look
after man than mosquito. Well, the germ theorists have got
themselves up a nice logical tree with a bull dog beneath.
Germs are the cause of disease and man is the cause of germs.
Work it out to suit youtself. Father Hahnemann's theories are
good enongh for us.
The average man does not object very much to hazing when
it takes the form of physical exercise even when severe, but
when it takes the form of forcing boys to eat things unfit for
food he objects, and objects vigorously. Those West Point men,
few in number we hope, who force the under-class men to drink
tobasco sauce, eat soap and large quantities of doctored molasses
may become officers but there may be reasonable doubt as to
their being or becoming gentlemen.
Protecting the water supply from pollution would be
cheaper and better than filter plants, which, unless kept scrupu-
lously clean, soon become veritable sinks of foulness. The con-
tents of the privy vault creeps through the sand and gravel and
enters the well water, and all is clear and sparkling, vet there is
typhoid in the cup. Protect the streams.
PERSONALS.
Dr. G. Hardy Clarke has removed from Humbolt to Waterloo, la. His
A, B, C Manual of Materia Medica will be out this month.
A girl recently advertised for a position, stating that she was "a young,
unmarried woman without children."
None but the strong refrain from, " I told you so."
Hats off to the E. Orange Board of Health, which has decreed that all do-
mestic animals must keep quiet between 10 p. m. and 8 a. M. ! What is the
penalty for a cat concert is not stated.
No, Mary, you cannot shock corn with an electric battery.
Dr. Oscar h. Grumbrecht has removed from Atlantic City to 615 Market
street, Camden, N. J.
A gentleman remarked that all Colonial Dames are "antique;" then he
found the trouble he had hunted.
Toothache will cure Christian science every whack.
If what is not, were, what would it be?
If Hahnemann were alive to-day he would probably be blind, deaf and
speechless from old age.
A " pathy " is a medical " creed," and a creed is an "I believe." Those
who do not believe in anything very much have no use for either.
Sitting cross-legged promotes appendicitis, so they say. Post it in the
Trolleys ! ! !
"After exercise never ride in an open carriage." — Ex. We won't, we'll
take a trolley, as usual.
The Hahnemann Institute reports some excellent homoeopathic clinics.
New Zealand has fallen in line with Switzerland and England, and re-
pealed the compulsory vaccination.
Compulsory vaccination hits the average man like compulsory religion.
Electro-fanitis is the name for colds contracted from electric fans, accord-
ing to Health.
189 cases of small- pox in United States for week ending December 21 and
one death.
Tobacco, says the Medical Age> seems to possess some resolving power on
the ptomaines of fatigue. Also, it develops the bacilli of comfort!
Every man likes good deeds in property.
In reality every man feels that the best years of his life are ahead of him,
and perhaps they are.
A Judge may be a man of few words but long sentences.
Even the sprucest of us still have a ninteenth century look.
Dewey's Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics has caught on in great
style.
The good die young and the old dye their hair.
Positive, curantur appeals stronger to the homoeopath thau doubting
curentur.
A motto never expresses a doubt.
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
VOL. XVI. LANCASTER, Pa., FEBRUARY, 1901. No. 2
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
Eighth Annual Session.
The eighth annual session of the American Institute of Hom-
oeopathy was held in the Temple at New Haven, Conn., begin-
ning at ten o'clock a. m., on Wednesday, June n, 1851.
William H. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., was unanimously
elected President. On motion of E. T. Foote, M. D., the By-
Laws were suspended so as to allow the Committee on Revision
of Rules of Order to report. After some few corrections the
report was accepted, and the order of proceedings stood as
follows:
1 . The meeting shall be called to order by the General Secre-
tary, or in his absence the Provisional Secretary, or in the
absence of both Secretaries, the Treasurer, or such person, as
shall be chosen by the members present, shall preside until a
Chairman is chosen.
2. Calling the roll of members.
3. Choice of Chairman by ballot, to preside at the meeting.
4. Appointment of Standing Committee on the election and
reception of members.
5. Reading such portion of the minutes of the last meeting as
may relate to unfinished business, or matters referred to the
next meeting.
6. Appointment of Standing Committee of five on the Treas-
urer's account and vouchers.
7. Report of Treasurer, with vouchers of expenditures.
8. Report of Committees appointed at the last meeting.
50 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
9. Reports and Communications from Auxiliaries and Corre-
sponding Bodies.
10. Election of Officers.
11. Annual Address.
12. Time and place of next Annual Meeting and Committee
of Arrangements.
13. Choice of a member to deliver the Annual Address at the
next meeting and an alternate.
14. Reading of minutes for correction and Approval.
15. Adjournment.
The rules relating to the order of business may be varied for
the time being by common consent, or by a vote of two thirds of
the members present.
The general rules of the House of Representatives of the
United States shall be observed in debate and in manner of
transacting business, where there are no rules of the Society ap-
plicable to the subject. Signed,
E. T. Foote.
After the reading and acceptance of this revised order of pro-
ceedings the roll of members was called, about fifty physicians
answering.
The minutes of unfinished business were read and the follow-
ing appointments then made by the Chairman:
Committee on Election of Members.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.
F. R. McManus, " Baltimore, Md.
B. F. Bowers, " New York, N. Y.
David Osgood, Boston, Mass.
Moses Dodge, Portland, Me.
Committee on Communications.
A. E. Small, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Jacob Jeanes, " Philadelphia, Pa.
G. W. Swazey, " Springfield, Mass.
Committee on Treasurer's Accounts.
E. T. Foote, M. D., New Haven, Conn.
Edward Bayard, " New York, N. Y.
B. F. Joslin, " New York, N. Y.
C. H. Skiff, " New Haven, Conn.
Jacob Jeanes, Philadelphia, Pa.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 51
Central Bureau of Materia Medica.
C. Hering, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.
W. Williamson, " Philadelphia, Pa.
C. Neidhard, " Philadelphia, Pa.
J. Jeanes, " Philadelphia, Pa.
J. Kitchen, " Philadelphia, Pa.
The Committee on Elections Reported.
Joseph Lloyd Martyn, M. D., Baltimore, Md.,
Christopher H. Rayborg, Baltimore, Md.,
Thomas Armor, " Baltimore, Md. ,
P. E. Vastine, " Baltimore, Md.,
Jehiel Abbott, " Westfield, Mass.,
A. H. Collins, " Conway, Mass.,
Wm. Pearsons, " South Hadley Falls, Mass.,
John J. Clashing, " Providence, R. I.,
Henry C. Preston, " Providence, R. I.,
Wm. C. Bell, " Middletown, Conn.,
Jeremiah T. Denison, Fairfield, Conn.,
Chas. C. Foote, " New Haven, Conn.,
Wm. P. Gambell, " Francestown, N. H.,
James W. Metcalf, " New York, N. Y.,
All of whom were elected to membership in the Institute.
The Treasurer, S. R. Kirby, M. D., then reported upon the
state of the finances of the society.
The Committee on the Translation of the Materia Medica Pura
did not report, the Chairman, J. Beakley, M. D., being absent.
The Committee on Cholera did not report because of the
absence of the Chairman, S. B. Barlow, M. D.
The Committee on Blisters did not report, the Chairman,
Edward Bayard, M. D., being absent,
The New York Branch Society presented a satisfactory report
which was accepted. In it, the efficacy of Homoeopathy in the
treatment of Cholera was noted, although the peculiar manner in
which it was received by the Board of Health and other public
institutions showed the strong opposition under which it labored.
As it was, the report from twenty -five physicians showed a mor-
tality of 53 cases out of 349, reported up to September 27, 1849.
At- this meeting the subject of Medical Education was dis-
cussed by Drs. Joslin, McManus, Gregg, Kirby, Wells, and
Jeanes.
52 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
At the afternoon meeting the Philadelphia Branch Society
made its report which was accepted. In it, the progress of
Homoeopathy in Philadelphia was noted; reference was made to
the absence of epidemic cholera, and to the presence of Typhoid
and Typhus fevers, with a marked tendency to affect the brain,
spinal marrow and intestines.
A letter from Henry D. Paine, M. D., of Albany, was read by
B. T. Foote, M. D., and referred to the Committee on Communi-
cations.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., was elected
General Secretary. Chas. C. Foote, M. D., of New Haven,
Conn., was elected Provisional Secretary. S. R. Kirby, M. D.,
was again elected Treasurer.
P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, offered a resolution which
provoked a friendly and prolonged discussion, which was still
unfinished when the meeting adjourned.
In the evening a fine audience met to hear G. W. Swazey,
M. D., deliver the annual address. His subject was upon life,
the Nature of Disease and the Law of Cure.
He did not attempt to unbind the mysteries of life, nor offer a
solution of the same, nor did he undertake to define disease
which was as subtle as life, but he proposed to discuss the law of
cure, which had withstood the test for more than a half century
in verifying its accuracy.
There being a law of cure, Dr. Swazey said that we were sup-
posed to know how this law operated and how it should be ap-
plied for the relief of mankind when sick. The public requires of
us not only the how of practice, but the why and wherefore of dis-
eases, as well as their cure, so that we are required to be students
constantly. He said that if health is the result of a propitious
cause, so disease is the consequence of a wrong somewhere, and
the elimination of this may be produced by a provided law;
which we call the law of cure.
He claimed that we could not investigate the outer life with-
out inquiry into the inner life, and that this was the only way
that the " vis vitae " could be accounted for, and which we knew
directed the forces both of health and disease.
He then considered the subject of Life, and assumed that God
only has life in himself; that all other forms of life are only re-
cipients of life from Him, either directly or through proper
mediums, and that man is one of these recipient forms and es-
sentially is a living soul, as he was pronounced at the creation.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 53
The life principle, or spiritual parts of man was then discussed
at considerable length, and reference made to the vis medicatrix
natures ox force in the human system which is recognized by the
profession. He defined Nature as that uncorrupted force of life
derived in laws of order from God, which tends to mould and
fit and preserve every organ for its intended use.
As symptoms are the signs of what nature is doing toward pre-
serving our lives, he asked if we should expose the sick to an
aggravation of their sufferings by the remedies, to which he
answered that we should, if occasion required this effort to ex-
cite the recuperative powers of nature, and render assistance by
drugs or other means.
He then discussed the amount of medicine necessary to be
used in this curative action.
Pain, he considered, was like a faithful sentinel, watching for
assistance, and as soon as it is obtained the disease surrenders
and pain quits its post.
He stated that the law of cure was the law of eliminating dis-
ease from the body, and claimed that this law was the funda-
mental doctrine of Homoeopathy, a doctrine which has been
largely misrepresented by its medical opponents.
He aimed to explain the law and its special action in the cure
of disease, and closed his remarks by claiming that our works
should prove the truths we affirm, and that we should not allow
our thoughts to take the wings of fancy, but that the home of
our thoughts and desires should be where Truth is — at the tree
of Life.
The address was a most able one upon the subject of homoe-
opathy and was received with marked approval by his earnest
listeners. A copy of it was obtained and published with the
proceedings of the Institute's session.
At the Thursday morning session the annual report of the
Central Bureau was read by Jacob Jeanes, M. D., and accepted.
On motion of Dr. Swazey it was resolved: —
Whereas, The advance of Medical Science depends mainly
upon a spirit of inquiry among physicians, together with a care-
ful observation of facts relating to the disease and its treatment.
Resolved. That this Institute considers it the duty of every
member to make some written communication at every annual
meeting upon some matter pertaining to the general interest of
Homoeopathy.
54 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
On motion of Dr. Kirby the resolution was adopted that
Jacob Jeanes, M. D., B. F. Joslin, M. D. and James W. Metcalf,
M. D., be appointed a committee to address through the Proceed-
ings of the Institute for 1851, the Homoeopathic physicians of the
United States, urging upon them the propriety of organizing,
forthwith, branches of the American Institute of Homoeopathy.
On motion of Dr. Kirby it was resolved: — That the members
of the Institute who may change their place of residence are
hereby requested to give notice of such change to the General
Secretary.
A communication from Wm. Ingalls, M. D., was read, with
a pamphlet upon the nerves, which was referred to the committee.
A communication was read from T. L. Sullivan, M. D., and
referred to the committee to be disposed of as requested by the
author.
Dr. Kirby moved that the next session of the Institute be held
in Baltimore, on the third Wednesday in May, 1852, which
motion was passed.
K. T. Foote, M. D., moved that any of the resolutions which
are to govern the Institute in its proceedings be incorporated in
the By-Laws.
On motion of Dr. Foote this resolution was adopted — That the
proposition of H. D. Paine, M. D., of Albany, to publish annu-
ally a year book of Homoeopathy comprising such items of
general interest respecting the condition, progress and prospects
of Homoeopathy, as would give a correct view of the Hahne-
mannian system throughout the world, meets with the approba-
tion of the Institute.
On motion of Samuel Gregg, M. D., the following resolution
was adopted, — That individuals proposing to become members
of the Institute shall subscribe their names if present, or if
absent, the Secretary be authorized to add such names and place
of residence to the Constitution and By-Laws, previous to receiv-
ing the certificate of membership.
Resolved, That such part of the proceedings of this meeting as
the Secretary may deem of sufficient interest, together with the
Address and the Constitution, with the By-Laws and Resolutions
now in force, be published under the direction of the Secretaries ,
for the use of the members, together with a list of its members.
S. R. Kirby, M. D., was appointed by the Chair to deliver the
next annual address before the Institute. After thanking the
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 55
officers for the efficient performance of their respective duties, the
Institute adjourned, to meet in Baltimore in May, 1852.
Before their adjournment the Institute received a memorial
letter from Philadelphia, mourning the death of Caleb B.
Matthews, M. D., and eulogizing him as a man and a physician.
The letter was published with the proceedings of the Institute.
The Ninth Annual Session.
The American Institute of Homoeopathy began its ninth
Annual Session on Wednesday, May 19. 1852, in Masonic Hall,
Baltimore, Md., and was called to order by the General Secre-
tary, G. W. Swazey, M. D. The roll was called, when but forty
physicians answered to their names.
Elial T. Foote, M. D., of New Haven Conn., was elected
Chairman of the session.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., Philadelphia; C. D. Williams, M.
D., Cleveland; Samuel Gregg, M. D , Boston; H. Kinsley, M.
D., New York, and J. R. Piper, M. D., Washington, were
elected the Committee on Election of new members.
The Committee on Cholera did not report, J. Barlow, M. D.,
the Chairman, being absent.
The committee on the translation of the Materia Medica Pura
did not report, J. Beakley, M. D., the Chairman, being absent.
The Committee on Blisters did not report, E. Bayard, M. D.,
the Chairman, being absent.
The Central Bureau made an acceptable report.
The committee to audit the Treasurer's report was A. S. Ball,
M. D., F. R. McManus, M. D., A. E. Small, M. D., C. D. Will-
iams, M. D., and S. S. Guy, M. D.
S. R. Kirby, M. D., the Treasurer, made his report, which
was referred to the committee, and reported correct.
The committee to address the homoeopathic physicians of the
United States, urging upon them the propriety of organizing
branches of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, made an ac-
ceptable report.
The Philadelphia Branch made a report mentioning Dysen-
tery, Cholera Infantum, Cholera Morbus, Scarlatina, Small- pox
and minor diseases, but all confined to rather mild forms, and
gave the names of the successful remedies. During the year they
had noticed an increase of patients who had turned to homoeo-
pathic treatment for relief.
56 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
The Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society made an
acceptable report, showing a total of 59 members, quite an in-
crease since its organization twelve years before.
A communication was received from the Rhode Island Homoeo-
pathic Society requesting to become a branch of the Institute,
which was granted.
A communication from W. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me.,
detailed cases of Membranous Croup successfully treated with
Bichromate of Potash.
A communication was received from E. T. Foote, M. D., of
New Haven, Conn., giving the particulars in the case of a lady
who died from the effects of chloroform, given to extract a tooth,
or a portion of it that had been left at a previous extraction.
The woman's death was very sudden and almost unaccountable.
The doctor disclaimed against using such an anesthetic for so
simple an operation.
A very animated discussion was held upon the subject of Vac-
cination, Drs. Williamson, Sims, Kirby, Guy, Jeanes and Small
participating therein.
At the afternoon meeting the Committee on Elections reported
the following candidates, all of whom were duly elected mem-
bers of the Institute:
Henry Duffield, M. D., Carlisle, Pa.; T. A. Pierce, M. D.,
Norristown, Pa.; J. P. Dake, M. D., Pittsburgh, Pa.; T. Collins
Stevenson, M. D., Carlisle, Pa.; Frederick Miller, M. D., Car-
lisle, Pa.; Geo. C. Williams, M. D., West Chester, Pa.; Wm.
F. Guernsey, M. D., Frankford, Pa.; John Redman Coxe, Jr.,
M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; Isaac Senter Crocker, M. D., Provi-
dence, R. I.; Z. Clements, M. D., Victory ville, N. Y.; Horatio P.
Gatchell, M. D., Cleveland, O.; Thomas Miller, M. D., Cleve-
land, O.; B. L. Hill, M. D., Cleveland, O.; Hamilton L. Smith,
M. D., Cleveland, O.; Milton Hammond, M. D., Baltimore, Md.;
J. M. Randel, M. D., Chesapeake City; Dioclesian Lewis, M. D.,
Buffalo, N. Y.; Lemuel K. Rosa, M.D., Elycia, O.; Lewis Dodge,
M. D., Cleveland, O., and John H. Henry, M. D., Montgomery,
Ala.
F. R. McManus, M. D.; W. Williamson, M. D., and S. S.
Guy, M. D., were appointed to report, at the next annual meet-
ing of the Institute; an essay on Small-pox and on Vaccination
as a prophylactic.
A. S. Ball, M. D., introduced a few remarks, which proposed
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 57
the use of Bromine and Proto-Iodide of Mercury in treating
Membranous Croup.
C. D. Williams, M. D., presented the following resolution,
which was laid upon the table:
" Since the practice taught in Allopathic Colleges is essentially
empirical, and consequently cannot take raak with the scientific
medication of Homoeopathic Colleges; therefore,
11 Resolved, That this Institute recommend to Homoeopathic
Colleges that they do not, in their terms of tuition and condi-
tions of graduation, recognize a session spent in attendance at an
Allopathic College as equivalent to one spent in a Homoeopathic
College."
S. Gregg, M. D., offered the following as substitutes for the
seventh and eighth articles of the By-Laws, which were adopted:
" At each annual session of the Institute there shall be a board
of five censors, who shall act until others are appointed, whose
duty it shall be to receive the credentials of the candidates, and
report such as may be found properly qualified to the Institute
for election; and three of whom shall constitute a quorum.
Any person who shall have pursued a regular course of medi-
cal studies according to the requirements of the existing medical
institutions of our country, and shall have obtained a certificate
of three members of this Institute that he has complied with the
above requirements, and that he sustains a good moral character
and general standing, addressed to the Board of Censors and by
them found satisfactorily qualified in the theory and practice of
Homoeopathy, and so reported to the Institute, may be elected
a member thereof, and upon the payment of two dollars shall re-
ceive a certificate of election.
At this meeting Wm. A. Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia,
was elected General Secretary.
S. S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, was elected Provisional Secre-
tary, and S. R. Kirby, M. D., of New York, was re-elected
Treasurer.
On motion, it was resolved to hold the next meeting of the
Institute on the second Wednesday in June, 1853, in Cleveland,
Ohio.
The Chairman appointed Edward Bayard, M. D., of New
York, to deliver the next annual address, and H. P. Gatchell,
M. D., of Cleveland, his alternate.
Jacob Jeanes, M. D., spoke feelingly of the death of William
58 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Ingalls, Sr., M. D., of Boston, and R. M. Stansbury, M. D., of
California. The latter was a native of New York, but went to
California in 1849 on account of poor health. On arriving in
Sacramento he was taken ill, and was treated in a hospital in
which, after his recovery, he subsequently bought an interest,
making it strictly homoeopathic and attaining a reputation for it
as the best institution of the kind in that section of the country.
He died of Asiatic Cholera in November, 1850.
Dr. Ingalls was a graduate of Harvard University, and was
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in Brown University, retiring
from his active duties in 1834. In 1842 he became a convert to
Homoeopathy, and was one of the committee appointed by the
Institute to prepare a work on Topographical Anatomy. He died
in September, 1851.
The Homoeopathic Physicians of Cleveland were appointed a
Committee of Arrangements for the next meeting of the Institute.
Drs. Jeanes, Neidhard, Williamson, Hering and Kitchen were
re-appointed the Central Bureau.
The Secretaries and Treasurer were instructed to publish the
proceedings of the meeting, the Address, Constitution and By-
Laws, the resolutions now in force, and a list of the members.
On- Wednesday evening at eight o'clock, the Institute met to
hear the address of S. R. Kirby, M. D. His subject was " Homoe-
opathy," and he dealt with it in a peculiarly attractive and con-
vincing manner, sometimes approaching the humorous in illus-
tration and argument. His faith in the truth of his theme
received manifest approbation. He referred to the New York
Academy of Medicine, an Allopathic Society which had been
organized about five years before, avowing as one of its purposes
the arresting of the progress of Homoeopathy, and appointing one
of their eminent speakers to address an audience of nearly four
thousand people in their behalf.
The society had obtained a charter from the State, and their
effort to annihilate the new system of medicine was taken up by
the members of the Homoeopathic School and the laity which
was friendly to the new doctrine.
Dr. Kirby claimed that the people, as a mass, exerted a 4I sober
second thought," which was a self-correcting power known as
public opinion. He urged the enlightenment of the people on
the subject of Homoeopathy, stating that when they fully under-
stood it they would correct the errors at present existing in the
Old School method of practice.
Proving of Hedeoma Pulegioides. 59
He then called the attention of his audience to the fact that
the cure of diseases and the understanding of the same did not
depend upon the names which nosologists had given them. He
advocated the use of attenuated drugs, the candid consideration
of Homoeopathy, and urged that the people be taught that small
doses of medicine are efficacious in the cure of disease. He said
that Homoeopathy embraced the treatment of diseases, and that
it had a law of cure, and a Materia Medica, the one being adapted
to the other; that it was a complete system in itself, the system
being one of facts and not of theory, and held that the practice
of Homoeopathy required that the totality of the symptoms
present in a case should indicate the remedy required, on which
point the two schools were at variance.
The doctor next referred to the Materia Medica and to Hahne-
mann's proving and recording the effects of the drug upon the
healthy as an aid in establishing a pure Materia Medica.
He spoke of the opposition of the Allopathic School, and gave
it credit for being honest in its opposition to Homoeopathy, but
said they judged it by the standard of their own allopathic views
and methods, and not by the experiments by which Hahnemann
proved his new discovery as to the proper law by which to be
governed in the selection of a remedy. He gave several illustra-
tions to enforce the views which he expressed in describing the
kind of opposition which the new system was obliged to en-
counter.
The thanks of the Institute were presented to Dr. Kirby, and
a request made for a copy of his address, which was published
with the Proceedings.
The meeting adjourned, to convene at Cleveland, in June, 1853.
PROVING OF HEDEOMA PULEGIOIDES.
By Paul Allen, M. D.
Hedeoma pideg., the common English Pennyroyal, the Ger-
man Poley, the Arabic Alnam, the ancient Greek Glachon, is
one of the oldest remedies known, a common household herb
long before the time of Hippocrates. Hippocrates and the old
physicians used it as a tea for increasing the flow of urine, as a
specific for stone in the kidney, and as a uterine stimulant.
For centuries pennyroyal has been considered a uterine tonic,
60 Proving of Hedeoma Pulegioides.
and the popular belief is that it is a very valuable agent for pro-
ducing abortion, but the results show that miscarriage is only in-
duced in weak cachectic women.
Hedeoma belongs to that large class of mints, common herbs,
that have been cast aside by the medical profession as worthless,
but which, if the results shown by this paper are of any worth,
will prove to be of inestimable value in many uric acid condi-
tions.
Ocimiim, the only other mint that has been used to any ex-
tent, was prescribed by the late Dr. Dnnham for uric acid dia-
thesis with large deposits of red sand, particularly if the patient
was subject to pain in the ureters.
Hedeoma contains three bodies peculiar to the plant, three dif-
ferent oils; also formic and acetic acid, and likewise ischeptoic
acid.
There are on record seven cases of poisoning.
Two provings have been made by myself.
Several of the poisoning cases are very meagre and of little
value.
One teaspoonful of the oil, three drachms of the essence,
seems to be almost a fatal dose, in one case only was abortion
produced, and that from one ounce of the oil, followed by col-
lapse and death.
The leading symptoms of the cases of poisoning are briefly:
Vertigo.
Dimness of vision.
Dilated pupils.
Nausea and vomiting.
Persistent severe bearing-down pains from the upper part of
the sacrum and the region of the kidneys to the uterus, like true
labor pains.
Frequent painful, scanty, burning micturition.
Small, rapid pulse.
Nervous weakness.
Cold, clammy extremities.
Case 7, reported by Dr. Toothaker, is by far the best.
The bearing-down labor-like pains and the scanty, painful mic-
turition lasted for many days and was very severe.
Proving. I.
September 29 took 5 gtts. tincture (B.&T.) in 2 drams of
water. In five minutes tasteless eructations, in fifteen minutes
Proving of Hedeoma Pidegioides. 6 1
eructations tasting of the drug, and as light warm .uncomfortable
' feeling in the stomach followed and > by tasteless eructations.
September 30. at 10 A. M. took 10 gtts. This was followed in
fifteen minutes by a slight aching in the right temple and very
slight vertigo.
October 2' at 11 a. m. took 20 gtts. No sensations until 3 to 9
p. M. then a general warm, indescribable feeling in the abdomen,
an uneasy desire to be rubbed, never amounting to a pain, yet
wished I had 10 drops instead of 20.
October 6 took 15 gtts., no effect.
October 7, at 6 p. m. a dull frontal headache and indisposition
to do anything. > rest.
October 23 took 20 gtts. at 10 p. M. This was quickly followed
by a slight burning in the stomach and a few tasteless eructations.
October 24, at 9:30, on an empty stomach, took 1 drachm of
the tincture. This was quickly followed by slight burning in
the stomach and tasteless eructations. In fifteen minutes there
developed a severe dragging, bearing down pain, rapidly increas-
ing in severity, over the left hip in the region of the left kidney.
This pain followed the left ureter to the bladder, a pain as if due
to gravel passing. This caused intense desire to urinate; the
more the urine was held back, the greater the pain, which was
entirely relieved by a profuse flow, of clear pale amber urine
12 oz. at 10 a. m. the pain returned within ten minutes and gra-
dually increased in severity.
At 11 A. M. 8 ozs. were passed; at 1 p. M. 8 ozs. were passed;
at 3 p. M. 8 ozs. were passed; at 4:30, 8 ozs. were passed; at
6:30, 4 ozs.; at 7:45, 3 ozs.; at 11 p. M., 11 ozs.
Next morning passed n ozs.
All the day I took the drachm of tincture I had in addition to
the pains already described dragging, burning pains at the neck
of the bladder, which were acutely aggravated at the very be-
ginning and end of micturition, and were greatly relieved while
urinating.
The outside of the left hip was very sensitive to light touch,
but not < hard pressure; more of a scalded, sore sensation.
These dragging pains from the kidneys to the bladder, along
the tract of the left ureter, and the burning at neck of the blad-
der lasted for six days, gradually decreasing, but they caused
such frequent desire to urinate that I was obliged to stop the
proving.
62 Promng of Hedeoma Pulegioides.
The record I made of the amount of urine passed and the
amount of urea and uric acid was unfortunately lost.
December 22 to 23, inclusive, took hourly one disc medicated
with the ix of Hedeoma.
December 22 passed 1410 c. c. and 17 grains of uric acid, urea
29 grammes.
December 23 passed 900 c. c. uric acid 39 grains, urea 26
grammes, 1031.
Was then obliged to stop on account of an acute coryza.
January 5 to 15, inclusive, took the remedy as before.
Without going into daily details, I will state the normal daily
amount of urine was 1400 c. c, uric acid 14 grains; urinate
normally five times a day; that during these eleven days I passed
11,000 c. c. of urine and 105 grains uric acid, instead of the
normal 15,400 c. c. and 154 grains of uric acid, consequently
there was stored up in my system about 50 grains of uric acid,
and what was the result?
1st. I had slight flatulent pains in the lower abdomen, causing
a desire for stool, followed next day by a large, spluttering,
acrid, strong smelling diarrhoea, preceded by flatus and followed
by slight tenesmus.
2d. Dull aching in the stomach not affecting the appetite, but
]> by hot drinks. This lame, wTeak aching seemed to be at the
oesophageal end of the stomach. Three loose stools.
3d. Profuse odorless flatus.
4th, 5th and 6th. An increasing soreness of the third right
thumb joint: very sore to touch, bending the joint caused sharp,
stitching pains and a cracking wThich was audible. This pain
gradually increased in severity as long as I took the drug, and
persisted for six months afterwards.
During the same time the left tendo-Achilles became stiff as
if sprained, especially on beginning to w7alk; after walking a few
minutes it became limbered up and the stiffness relieved. It had
at first a sensation as if it were swollen, yet it was not swollen.
This swollen sensation and sprained feeling was especially notice-
able on bending the ankle, < first motion, getting on and off the
street cars was extremely painful, and I hobbled and limped like
an old man. Soon the stiffness became worse and the tendon
was swollen and hot and very sore to touch, walking or moving
the foot very painful.
I also had an almost constant burning, dull pain over the left
kidney, and a smaller pain in the transverse colon > by belching.
Pediatric Materia Medica. 63
More belching of tasteless gas than usual.
Sleeplessness, but not restlessness. .
All these symptoms gradually increased in severity and be-
came so severe, especially the pain in the thumb joint and
the tendo-Achilles and the burning over the kidney, that I was
obliged to stop the drug.
During the proving I urinated six times daily.
Clinical cases.
Case I.
I have prescribed this' remedy in two cases.
One a lady of gouty, rheumatic tendency, who had dragging
burning pains in the left ureter going to the bladder and was
passing quantities of "red sand." The pain lasted for ten days.
Hedeoma 1., on discs, was given, one disc every two hours.
Complete relief was obtained after two doses.
Case II.
A man of 60, very fond of champagne, was bothered by con-
stant burning irritation at the neck of the bladder, which caused
frequent intense desire to urinate and an inability to retain his
urine for more than a few minutes. He always had marked re-
lief on urinating. Urine retained in the bladder increased this
irritation at the neck of the bladder and also caused an uneasy
pain in the right testicle.
These S3<mptoms had been more or less persistent for months
and the attacks always lasted days at a time. Complete relief
was obtained after one or two doses of Hedeoma 1. He is never
without a bottle of the remedy in his pocket.
3 E. 4.8th St., New York.
PEDIATRIC MATERIA MEDICA.
Ferrum Metallicum.
By Thomas G. Roberts, M. D., Chicago.
Ferrum metallicum is especially adapted to patients with the
sanguine temperament, peevish, quarrelsome disposition; become
angry from the least contradiction, exceedingly disturbed by
slight noises, like the crackling of paper. The Ferrum patient
frequently has the leucophlegmatic constitution. Pseudo plethora
is the grand keynote symptom. Although the patient is anaemic,
64 Pediatric Materia Medica.
he presents a plethoric aspect. Weakly persons with fiery red
faces, ashy, pale or greenish face.
The face, lips, and mucous membranes are very pale, but
become red and flushed on the least pain, emotion, or exer-
tion. Parts ordinarily red, or reddish, like the face, lips,
tongue, and mucous membranes become pale. Red face is char-
acteristic, but frequently the face or other red part is not warm.
Cold congestion is a marked characteristic of this drug. A very
peculiar symptom is chill with red face and thirst.
Vertigo, as if on water, or from seeing running water; vertigo
on descending. Hammering, beating, pulsating pain in the
head. Pain in the teeth is relieved by holding cold water in the
mouth.
Canine hunger alternating with complete loss of appetite.
Spits up his food by the mouthful.
Food lies in the stomach all day and is vomited at night.
Vomiting immediately after midnight ; vomiting of ingesta as soon
as food is eaten.
Painless indigested stool at night or while eating or drinking.
Cough with vomiting of food. Cough that prevails only in the
daytime, relieved by lying down and by eating.
Great erethism of the circulation. Symptoms resembling those
following the loss of much blood. General haemorrhagic ten-
dency; venous haemorrhage. Venus stasis, from vaso-motor
paresis of the vessels. Dropsy after the loss of vital fluids, abuse
of quinine, or suppression of intermittents.
The Ferrum patient is much affected by extremes of heat or
cold, but is, upon the whole, a cold as well as a sensitive subject.
Aggravation from rest, particularly while sitting, and at
night, especially after midnight.
Always better walking slowly about, although weakness obliges
the patient to lie down.
Inner Head. Hydrocephalus with open fontanels and great
anaemia.
Nose. Epistaxis in children suffering from anaemia; color of
face changes frequently.
Upper Face. Children with very red faces.
Face flushes easily on the least pain, excitement or exertio?i. Face
very pale, but becomes red and flushed on the least emotion, ex-
ertion, or pain.
Ashy, pale or greenish face.
Pediatric Materia Medica. 65
Teeth and Gums. Dentition with persistent diarrhoea; the
painless stools consist of mucus and undigested food; stools
sometimes excoriating and exhausted.
Face flushed, or has red spots on each side; vomits nourish-
ment soon after taking it; slow dentition. Toothache mome7i-
tarily relieved by cold water. Great paleness of gums.
Taste. Children complain of a disagreeable taste of blood in
the mouth.
Appetite. Canine hunger, alternati?ig with loss of appetite.
Anorexia; great aversion to all food. Children accustomed to
meat suddenly dislike it. Meat disagrees; can only eat bread
and butter; appetite for bread. Aversion to eggs, beer and ale,
hot and sour things.
Eating a?id Drinki?ig. Eructations and regurgitation of food in
mouthfuls {Phos.) after eating, without nausea and inclination
to vomit. Vomiting or diarrhoea after taking ?iourishment (Ars.).
Vomiting. Vomiting as soon as food has been taken. Frequent
and easy vomiting of food. \zomiti?ig of food with fiery red face.
Vomiti?ig of food ijnmediately after midnight, followed by aversion
to food. Vomiting of infants.
Stool. Undigested stools coming on as soon as the child at-
tempts to eat. The child has a fiery-red face, and frequent diar-
rhceic stools corroding the anus. Undigested stools, with easy
vomiti?ig of ingesta ; very red face. Undigested, painless, some-
times involuntary stools, which are apt to occur during a meal.
Desire to go to stool as soon as anything touches the stomach.
Hungry, but eating brings on diarrhoea. Lienteric stools coming
on just after midnight, sometimes accompanied by periodical
vomiting. Valuable in "summer complaint" or cholera in-
fantum with lienteric stools; emaciation. Children suffer from
chronic, watery diarrhoea without pain or effort, worse just after
midnight, and after eating or drinking; undigested stools {Cinch.,
Phos . Phos. ac, Podo.). Diarrhoea, in teething children, with
Hushed face; stools tuidigested, and sometimes associated with
vomiting; the diarrhoea and vomiting come on immediately after
taking nourishment. Slimy stools with ascarides. Constipation
from intestinal atony; ineffectual urging to stool. Stool hard
and difficult, followed by backache.
Rectum and Anus. Prolapsus recti. Ascarides cause itching
of anus at night. Helminthiasis; seat worms cause itching in
anus at night; wretched complexion. Itching from ascarides
prevents the child from sleeping.
66 Pediatric Materia Medica.
Urinary Ograns. Urine passes involuntarily at nighty aiid also
by day, when the child is walking about. Incontinence of urine,
worse during the day, but the bed is flooded several times at
night; urine smells like strong ammonia and stains the sheets
very dark; yellowish clay-colored sediment adhering to sides
and bottom of vessel. Nocturnal enuresis; urine dark red, some-
times with mucous sediments; irritability of the trigone and
cervix vesicae. Urine as clear as water in anaemia.
Respiratio7i. Breathing dry, loud, anxious; sometimes rattling.
Respiration difficult with oppression of chest, as if some one
pressed with the hand upon it.
Cough. Spasmodic cough after taking nourishment, with
vomiting of all foods taken.
Cough with vomiting of food. Cough only in the daytime
(Euphr.). Thin, scanty, frothy sputa with streaks of blood.
The spasmodic cough sometimes ceases immediately after a meal,
but usually comes on after a meal, with vomiting of food.
Pertussis; child vomits food with every coughing spell; great
pallor and weakness.
Whooping cough, dry in the evening, with copious, purulent,
blood -streaked expectoration in the morning, and sour vomiting
of food; cough immediately relieved by eating a small quantity
of food (Spong).
Lungs. Haemoptysis in young boys or girls predisposed to con-
sumption, and who are in the incipient stages of phthisis florida.
Phthisis pulmonalisin young florid subjects, with great erethism
of the vascular system, and inclination to thoracic congestion.
This remedy should be used with great caution in all tubercular
cases, Haemoptysis has often been calledby its injudicions use.
Pulse and Circulation. Irregular distribution of blood in
young persons of either sex. Anaemia in children that look
plethoric and are subject to congestions; pale mucous membranes;
nun's murmur is heard in the veins.
Motion and Rest. Better walking slowly aboiit. Worse on first
beginning to move, but relieved by continued gentle motion,
though weakness may compel the sufferer to sit or lie down.
Worse from rest, especially sitting still.
Nerves. Restless, impelled to walk about slowly. A nervous
erethistic condition is present when Ferrum is indicated. Very
weak and tired, but always relieved by walking slowly about.
Sleep. Bad sleep before midnight. The pain forces patient
Out- Door Air in The Cure of Disease. 67
to get out op bed at night, and walk slowly about. Child cannot
sleep in account of itching from ascarides.
Time. Restless sleep before midnight: after midnight, the
headache is worse. Immediately after midnight vomiting of
food occurs.
Fever. Chill with red face and thirst. Coldness of the body.
Heat with very red face and inclination to uncover.
Tissues. Pseudo-plethora; subject to congestions yet anmaeic;
face earthy, flushing easily. Red parts become pale. Maramus
with frequent vomiting of food: stools undigested: redness of
face; child pale add delicate. Anmaeia. Dropsy after loss of
vital fluids, abuse quinine, or suppressed intermittent fever.
(Carl. v. Ciyict. I
Skin. Skin ashy. pale, sallow, greenish, dirty, flabby. Some-
times of use in scarlatina during the stage of desquamation.
Temperame?it. Sanguine, choleric tempera?nent ; peevish, quar-
relsome: least contradiction angers.
Relations. Comple?nentary to Alumina and Cinchona of. Ag-
gravates syphilitic conditions. Must be used with caution in
tubercular disease-.
Incompatible. Beer and tea.
Compare: Borax. Anacardium. Spongia, Cinchona, Phosphorus,
Selenium and Thuja.
Aggravation. At night, especially just after midnight; at rest,
particularly while sitting still.
Amelioration. Walking slowly about; in warm weather.
OUT-DOOR AIR IN THE CURE OF DISEASE.
By J. Henry Hallock. M. D., Saranac Lake. N. Y.
Read before the Homoeopathic Medical Society of Western Massachusetts
December 19, 1900.
At the request of your Chairman of the Bureau of Materia
Medica, I will endeaver to give you something from my five
years' expirience as a fresh air taker and presenter.
Previous to my discovering that I was in an advanced stage of
tuberculosis I had given but little hard thought to the subject,
and on starting out found myself ignorant in many ways
Almost every person I met, whether physician or layman, had
some good advice to offer.
68 Out- Door Air in The Cure of Disease.
I had supposed consumption to be regarded as an incurable
disease, but instead found any number offering me a positive
cure if I would only follow their advice, which ran from sawdust
pills to rolling a barrel of whisky into my cellar and curing my-
self with rock and rye.
Fresh air was not then as much talked about as at present, and
one had not as sure rules to guide them, yet I decided that this
must aid my remedies if I wished to recover, but it was no easy
matter to choose a climate. Many states hold enviable reputa-
tions, but, preferring a location as near home as possible, for
many reasons I chose the Adirondacks of New York State, and
I believe there are but few better places.
It is never an easy task to guide a case of tuberculosis so that
it will keep on the sure road to recovery, and as I then lacked
experience I made many mistakes, among the most important
of which was over-exercise, over worry, rinding too many ex-
cuses to remain in-doors when I should have spent my whole
time out; I made mistakes in eating and sleeping, and in almost
everything else I did.
To a person unaccustomed it would seem unsound advice to
insist upon a delicate patient going out early in the morning and
remaining out all day, coming in only to eat and sleep, using a
hammock or bed, if unable to sit up, and doing this even though
the weather is cold enough to require fur coat and mittens.
Perhaps the patient had arrived the day before wearing two
chest protectors, three shirts, a sweater and a chamois vest, and
telling you they were so sensitive to the air that they had hardly
been to the door so far all winter, and the last time they did they
took cold.
Such a patient, after a few days breaking in, can, with safety,
remain out the entire day, and sometimes in such patients we
see a most rapid improvement. But if they really have well-es-
tablished tuberculosis the process of repair usually takes place
very slowly, the wonder being that it takes place at all. But
patience usually brings results, providing we are following right
methods and have not delayed our treatment until the disease is
too much advanced.
My first perceptible gain commenced after I had began to sit
out quietly all day on a porch without other exercise, and such
a porch as my first one was. It was in a small village on the
west side of the woods, gaining its elevation by being on top the
Out-Door Air in The Cure of Disease. 69
highest peak in the locality, and not only was the hill wind and
storm swept, but the porch had no cover, and I have often, after
being out all day, found myself so snowed under that I had diffi-
culty in getting out of my chair.
While fur coat, robe, cap and mittens can keep a patient dry
and warm it is a great mistake to locate where the hard winds
can strike. Just as much air can be had on a sheltered porch in
a place so located that it has the necessary elevation and is at
the same time protected by surrounding mountain peaks.
While I make a specialty of lung diseases and treat more of
those than of other cases, still I have seen wonderful improve-
ment in many forms of chronic ailment follow an out-of-door life
here.
Digestive troubles, kidney troubles, asthmatics, hay fever,
anaemia, nervous prostration, etc.
I remember a case of nervous prostration that had resisted
many forms of treatment. A girl, seventeen years old, came with
her mother, who was so solicitous that it was hard to get the
daughter started in the right way. But at the end of a month
there was such a marked gain that her mother could not keep
"her in; she disliked even to come in at bed time. She wore no
hat, and as it was summer went most of the time with bare arms.
I lost track of the case after she returned to the city, but she
left, after a six months' stay, the perfect picture of health.
While I believe in homoeopathic remedies and believe them a
great help in every case, even in the worst oases of tuberculosis,
still there is nothing that will more quickly reduce a temper-
ature, restore a lost appetite, give a good refreshing sleep than
a life spent entirely in the open air.
Every physician must have tubercular cases who are unable to
leave their homes for lack of means, and this should be the only
excuse unless it should be the advanced stage of the disease.
For such patients much can be done by having them rig a mov-
able shelter for the porch, if they have one, or for their yard, a
few rough boards or a frame for canvas. This should have a
cover to keep off storm and be so arranged as to allow for chang-
ing winds. Even a small city yard can give great aid and relief
to many sufferers, and the results obtained have been very good.
It will be found a great improvement over a tight room. But it
can never take the place of a high mountain resort, properly
located, with surrounding mountain peaks to break all rough
70 Out-Door Air in The Cure of Disease.
winds, a rocky or sandy soil, an ozone laden air, due to eleva-
tion and thousands of acres of surrounding forests to purify
every breeze. Also the example of others sitting out and fol-
lowing the proper course makes it easy for them to fall into the
correct way without any great struggle.
In caring for more than a hundred tubercular patients annu-
ally I meet many interesting cases, but which one would be
most interesting to a body of physicians like this is hard to de-
cide. I will venture, however, to report one which came to me
last spring. It was of interest personally, for it is rare such
rapid results are attained.
Mrs. B., aged 27, of English parentage, sent me from the
southern part of the State, had suffered an attack of pneumonia
in her right lung two months before. She had made a slow
recovery, for, evidently, not only had the germs of tuberculosis
been deposited in her lungs, but there had been an unrecognized
destructive process taking place previous to the pneumonia. I
found her in bed next day after arrival, with a temperature of
103, suffering with severe pleuritic pains. She was emaciated,
anaemic, coughing almost every breath, raising a pint cup
full twice daily. She had night sweats and diarrhoea. Her
stomach could take but little nourishment and that digested
poorly. Examination showed a good-sized cavity at the right
apex, a consolidated area at the left apex and considerable
pleuritic effusion at the lower part of right lung which, with the
quantity of pus and elastic lung tissue she was expectorating,
caused me to make a most unfavorable prognosis. But Aeon.,
Bry., Hep., Sul., P/ios., Sanguinaria, Bacillinum and wide open
windows soon put her in shape to be carried on the porch, but
from this her gain seemed slow for the first two months. After
that each day marked a gain until at the end of six months
hardly an abnormal symptom remained. She had gained in
flesh and strength and evidently thought herself well, for she
informed me one morning that she was going to England to see
her parents and I have not heard from her since. While with
the ocean voyage her improvement may keep on, I feel that she
made a great mistake in not remaining longer; for such cavities
require time to permanently heal; a year is a short time for
such a patient. Usually those patients who insist on going
back to unfavorable surroundings with only an arrested disease
soon find active trouble starting again. But of those sent home
as cured during several years I have only few relapses to report.
Mephitis. 7 1
MEPHITIS.
By Thos. M. Stewart, M. D., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Patient, male, aged 47. Constant hacking cough; often re-
quired to cough during a conversation of only a few moments'
duration; feels that he must cough to dislodge something; slight
relief on coughing up plugs of gluey mucus.
Elongated uvula was first amputated. After recovery from
the operation, and allowing some time to elapse, patient reports
"Coughs after reading aloud or drinking any fluid; cough is
spasmodic, hollow and hoarse, worse at night and on lying down;
cough loose in mornings. Ambra, Chamomilla, Kali bichromi-
cum, Rumex and Phosphorus failed to give decided relief.
Mephitis im. relieved promptly, and a few doses are all that
have since been needed at infrequent intervals.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC MED-
ICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF
COLORADO.
This is a handsome little book, paper covered, of 94 pages,
and gives the Transactions of the fifteenth annual session. Here
are a few pickings from its pages:
Homoeopathy a True Science.
Dr. C. W. Knos concluded his paper on " Scientific Medicine "
as follows: Hear what Dr. Hawkes, of Chicago, said a few years
ago in his opening clinical lecture before the students of Hahne-
mann Medical College: "Homoeopathy being a science under a
rational law, the physician knowing all the knowable of his pro-
fession takes each step with as much assurance and confidence as
does the practitioner of any other science." He said in proof of
the claim that Homoeopathy is a science, " I will undertake, as
the patients are brought before us to-day, to tell the remedy that
has been prescribed in each case when the patient has been posi-
tively benefited without my having had communication with the
patient or house physician in regard to the disease or the remedy.
I will also undertake to indicate the remedy which has not been
prescribed in curable cases, where no improvement has resulted."
72 Medical Society of Colorado.
Homoeopathy is a true science. The demonstrations and prov-
ings of the law for one hundred years and more have not dis-
turbed the basis ''similia," but on the other hand have con-
firmed the scientific truth of " similia similibus curantur."
Relation of Homoeopathy to Gynecology.
Such was the title of S. S. Smythe's paper from which we clip
the following encouraging words for the true homoeopathic phy-
sician:
The first to protest against this extravagant application of
surgical methods in pelvic disorders were some of our leading
homoeopathic surgeons. The successful use of homoeopathic
remedies in the treatment of uterine and ovarian disease soon
convinced the members of our school that surgery was not first
in importance, and this had more to do with changing the cur-
rent of opinion than any other one factor. Women have come
to understand that surgery is a question of secondary considera-
tion, and that in many of their most serious ailments a faithful
adherence to well-directed homoeopathic treatment promises the
most certain and lasting relief.
The ovaries are no longer sacrificed except for most cogent
reason, and diseased uteri are given the benefit of careful medi-
cal treatment before being condemned to the more radical
measure of complete obliteration.
Though the success of Homoeopathy in the treatment of pel-
vic diseases has greatly narrowed the field of pelvic surgery, it
has also modified and improved it. Pelvic therapeutics must now
be considered of first importance, and surgery a necessary ad-
junct to successful and complete gynecological practice.
The Use of the Single Remedy.
Dr. Edwin Jay Clark paid his attention to the "combination
tablet" in the following vigorous words:
Can the intelligent physician do better with combinations than
with the single remedy ? Eperience answers, No. The phy-
sician who prescribes a mixture acquires no knowledge that
helps him in the treatment of the next case, as a result of the
success or failure obtained in the last one. He adds nothing to
his scientific acquirements. Though he may imagine he knows
just what was what, and what was not what, his knowledge of
therapeutics dwindles and he has nothing of value for himself
or the profession. He gropes in the dark, sometimes accidentally
Medical Society of Colorado. 73
securing a cure, oftener only suppressing the evidence of disease
and more often complicating the case by intermingling in an in-
extricable manner the natural diseases with many drug diseases,
making a cure impossible and a restoration to health unattain-
able this side of the grave.
As I look back over the years of my practice and contemplate
its results from the time I had sunk so low in the scale of medi-
cal degradation as to attempt to save my gray mother by pre-
scribing combination tablets on to the time when I prescribed
single remedies in alternation, and up to the present, when I am
trying as I never tried before to practice Homoeopathy, I realize
that my success has been proportionate to my approach to the
ideal scientific application of the law of cure. I also notice a
peculiarity in the use of the single remedy prescribed scien-
tifically in that it conduces to good health and freedom from dis-
ease, both in themselves and in their offspring, a result to be
deplored by the physician whose ideal is sordid, but a condition
to be earnestly desired by every physician having the betterment
of his race as his high ideal.
Diseases of Women.
Dr. Marian Wall Roberts, Leadville, Colo., after stating that
she had much help from Yingling {Accoucheur' 's Emergency
Manual") and Burnett goes on to say:
The more I use Burnett's suggested remedies the greater suc-
cess I have in my work. Especially let me suggest to your study
and application, Arnica, Hyperiaim, Bellis per., Bursa pastoris,
Fraxinus Amer. and Naja.
I use Ar?iica so often and with such good effect, that I wonder
if I am not becoming Arnica biased, yet when I see its work I
know I have made no mistake in tying to it so closely.
Naja has been of inestimable value to me, especially in left-
sided ovarian troubles, either with or without heart complica-
tions. I feel that I am a mere beginner in this work, but the
successful cases I have had made me dissatified with anything
but a perfect cure by the perfect method " Similia Similibus
Curantur." One remedy at a time, one dose if possible.
" Only a Homoeopath."
The following is from a paper by E. J. Clark, and is too good
to pass:
74 Medical Society of Colorado.
Mrs. F., set. about fifty-five, was feeling quite poorly and sent
for the family physician. She did not improve under treatment,
but rapidly grew worse and became desperately sick. He diag-
nosed the case as typhoid pneumonia, and as the treatment failed
to relieve counsel was called in, and still the case grew more des-
perate, and more counsel was called in, until there were five ot
them, enough to kill a half dozen women.
The case had now been running ten days, and they all met in
consultation and finally decided that she could not live longer
than until midnight. The family were so informed, and the doc-
tors administered a large dose of Morphine to save her from suf-
fering, and left another powder with directions " that if she arouse
to give it and make her death as easy as possible."
Her sister was with her, and after the doctors left — it was
then four o'clock p. m. — she begged them to send for Dr. Clark,
her family physician. They objected, saying that he is nothing
but a Homoeopath; and what could he do with nothing but sugar
pills when all the doctors with strong medicine couldn't help
her? The aunt said to the children, " I know they have given
your mother up to die, and she may die in spite of anything that
can be done; but while there is life we ought to do what we can,
and I want you to send for Dr. Clark, and if he can't do any
good he will do no harm; please send for him right away and I
will pay for his visit."
They sent the youngest brother, telling him not to tell the
doctor anything about the case, and when I asked him what the
matter was he said they told me not to tell you anything. I
found all the family crying, and without a word they pointed to
the room in which the mother lay, and I distinctly heard heavy
breathing and moaning.
The sister met me saying, " I have had hard work to get you
here, and now I want you to do all you can."
I asked about the case, and she replied "that the family
didn't want me to tell you anything, they want to test you. I
will say, however, that she has been sick for some time and given
up to die." With this information I took my time to make a
thorough examination. The patient was in a dead stupor;
stertorous breathing and moaning; the eyes dilated, face dark
red and features distorted. I examined pulse and respiration.
Pulse full and slow, respiration irregular and breathing heavy.
I placed my hand on the chest to get the respirations and the
Felons, Carbuncles and Boils. 75
sister said, "that lung is all gone." "Indeed," I remarked,
"the air seems to find its way through it." I then moved my
hand down over the abdomen; it was full and hard, a slight
pressure made the patient groan. A careful examination re-
vealed the fact that the bloating was local, directly over the
bladder, and that the sides of the abdomen could be indented.
I turned to the sister and asked, " How much urine has this
woman been passing?" She replied, "Only by drops for the
past three days." I then took out my catheter and drew at
least six quarts of urine. I did not know that the bladder could
hold so much, but it did, and I relieved it just in time to save it
rupturing.
The doctors had said ' ' that it was the last state of the dis-
ease, and dropsy had set it."
I prescribed JVux, which I nearly always do when following
old school treatment. I told the family that they might dry
their tears, for I had found their mother's lungs and she would
now get well. They had told them that her lungs were gone
and there was no hope of recovery. Under Cantharis and Ar-
senicum she improved rapidly, and on the third day was able to
sit up and have her bed made. She went on to full recovery,
and we scored one more for Homoeopathy.
Exophthalmic Goitre.
Dr. W. A. Burr gave in detail a case of goitre in which
everything reported of use had been tried, with no good results
until he took the totality of her symptoms, and this led him to
the unlooked for teminus, Pulsatilla ! And a cure followed.
FELONS, CARBUNCLES AND BOILS.
Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
I have often thought of sending you a few items to show the
superiority of medicine over surgery in cases that are called
surgical.
1. A Mr. Ellises, a master ship builder, was on his way to a
surgeon to have a frog felon lanced. I said, if you are not in a
hurry let me see it. He turned back home to show it me. I
found the hand very much swollen, very red, and so painful he
could hardly bear it. I told him to put off the lancing until the
morning, and take the medicine I fixed for him, and if not better
J 6 Leach vs. Sternberg.
then he could get it lanced; but if better to come to my office, and
I would give him medicine in a form he could carry around with
him and remain at work. He came to me in the morning; the
swelling was much less, he could move his finger freely, and he
wanted the sugar globules. In the few days that followed he
was perfectly cured. After a time he broke the skin over where
the felon was forming, and I took out the dead and dried matter,
thus saving this man several weeks of suffering and distortion
from the injury by surgery and the formation of cicatricial tissue.
Just one more. Felon on the forefinger of a butcher, who had
poisoned it by running a sliver of bone into it. He had poulticed
it for three days before I saw it. I gave him my usual remedies,
Arnica and Sulphur, and cured the finger in a week.
A carbuncle case. Mr. Vail, an old gentleman 70 years of age,
had been kept at home for a week suffering from a swelling at
the back of his neck. When he came to me he did so because
he would not have it lanced. It was the largest I ever saw, and
the pain was almost unbearable. His head felt so large and
heavy; from this I suspected erysipelas, and so I found the
purple or blue color extended to the crown of his head. The
carbuncle was spouting out of two lower holes, and there was
seven others ready to discharge. I gave Belladomia and Lachesis
to control the erysipelas, and Silicea for {he pus formation. Next
day the pain was so reduced that he could bear me to dress it;
the discharge was much less then from its size than one had a
right to expect. I dressed it three mornings, the discharge less
each time. The erysipelas was fully controlled, the skin pucker-
ing and pealing off. Arnica and Sulphur completed the cure in
five days. He promised to come to my office if he had any more
trouble. He went to his business, and I have not seen him since.
Yours truly,
Robert Boocock, M. D.
Flat bush, L. I.
LEACH VS. STERNBERG.
The famous "man from Texas," Dr. R. B. Leach, now of St.
Paul, Minn., is after the scalp of Surgeon General Sternberg and
it looks as though he might lift it. The whole trouble seems to
be in the fact that Dr. Leach is a homoeopathic physician; also
he is the father of the arsenization theory. Of this latter fact
Leach vs. Sternberg. 77
there is simply no question. Now arsenization has come to the
fore in some other countries, as will be seen by the sub joined
translations, and they give Dr. Leach credit:
TRANSLATION OF LETTER TO DR. LEACH.
San Paui,o, Brazil, Decebmer 8, 1900.
Dr. Alfonso De Asevedo, Medical Practitioner.
Reginald B. Leach, M. D., St. Paul, Minn., U. S. A.
My Dear Colleague: — Ascertaining that you are a propagandist of arsenical
prophylaxis of yellow fever, I proffer the information that I have been using
arsenious acid (arsenization) in the prevention of yellow fever since 1893.
As Sanitary Inspector I have been witness to six manifestations of yellow
fever epidemics in the interior of the state of San Paulo.
In my work — "Contributions to the clinical study of yellow fever at San
Paulo," published in the Jornal do Commercio of Rio de Janeiro (January
17, 1900) you may see and read my observations.
In the treatment also in yellow fever I use arsenic and obtain an average
mortality of only 3 per cent.
Deign to accept the salutations of your colleague.
Leonso De Asevedo
Physician of Sanitary Inspection at San Paulo, Brazil.
Largo Sagrado Coracao de Jesus.
TRANSLATED FROM-LA PROPAGANDA, CITY OF
MEXICO.
The eminent North American physician, Dr. R. B. Leach, of St. Paul,
Minn., has presented to the Senate of the United States his interesting work
upon the prevention of the infectious ailments (Asiatic cholera, yellow fever
and bubonic plague). He calls attention of the government to this vital
issue, which has so much of interest to the States affected and which de-
mands serious consideration,
The statistical data gathered by Dr. Leach and Brazilian physicians enter
into the proportion of the mortality and all known methods of treatment,
including his own, and he demonstrates that homoeopathy has saved the
greater number of those infected with yellow fever and cholera than any
other curative system.
Now let Sternberg recognize the just claims of Dr. Leach.
This is clipped from the Medical Record of February 9th.
Wonder what would have been the result if instead of all that
science there had been the /'indicated remedy"? A live child
probaly.
"Progressive Diphtheria with Early Serum Therapy. —
Trumpp reports a case of laryngeal diphtheria which terminated
fatally in spite of intubation, tracheotomy, and the injection of
six thousand antitoxin units."
78 Observations on Acute Rheumatism.
OBSERVATIONS ON ACUTE RHEUMATISM.*
Homoeopathic Treatment vs. The Salicylic Acid.
By Dr. Wapler, Leipzig.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Z.,
December 6th, 1900.
My theme was proposed orginally as "The Homoeopathic
Treatment of Acute Articular Rheumatism;" but in consequence
of peculiar circumstances I was compelled to limit my work
more closely and to give it the above title, and I must request
my honored colleagues to favorably accept my more limited
thesis. To properly treat the very extensive theme which I was
appointed in Elberfeld to treat I did not have the time, and also
soon found that a harmonious presentation of the treatment of
acute articular rheumatism according to the views of high
potency and low potency men is. not well practicable in one
thesis. So I thought it was best to divide the theme, and to
allow a representative of high potencies and a representative of
low potencies to present their several views.
I therefore here present what is my particular theme: "My
Observations on Acute Articular Rheumatism."
The first severe case of disease, which came to me in the year
1895, when I first settled down as a homoeopathic physician, was
a case of hyperpyretic articular rehumatism, which I succeeded
in curing and which served to pave the way for further practice.
This fact, in connection with the circumstance that I know
rheumatism from personal experience, may explain why rheuma-
tism is to me of especial interest. The number of regular cases
of rheumatism — I do not include rheumatoid cases — treated by
me in the last five years is 57.
Of these 57 cases eight were closely observed, having been
treated in our hospital. Of 38 other cases I have very exact
data, having been able to treat the course of the disease to the
end, so that these may be used with approximately the same
certainty as the hospital cases, at least with respect to the dura-
tion of the disease, the resumption of work, and the appearance
*An address delivered at the 68th General Meeting of the Homoeopathic
Central Union of Germany in Dresden.
Observations on Acute Rheumatism. 79
of complications. Of the 38 cases last mentioned 20 were lodge
members, the other 18 being private cases. I have, therefore, 46
cases as an actual basis for my observations.
As to the duration of the disease, that may be reported on
with great variety, according as we view the termination of the
disease as equivalent with the end of the fever, or with rising
from bed, or with the resumption of work. In my eight hospital
cases these numbers average as follows: Cessation of fever on
the seventh day, leaving bed on the fourteenth day, dismissal
from the hospital on the twenty-fifth day, and resumption of
work on the thirtieth day.
We are sorry to say that these four stadia have not been kept
duly separated in the statistics presented by allopaths; we only
receive information with respect to one or another of these
points, never with respect to all of them.
Now, as to fever, it would appear that according to the statis-
tics presented in the allopathic text-book of Pribram, the dura-
tion of fever, when there is the Salicylic acid treatment, is shorter
in average than with my treatment. Bseumler and Owen, e. g.,
report not quite four days' duration: Harvilland Hall reports
five days; Coupland, Finley, Lukas, Warner, Fritz, Levy and
Pribram exactly six days, and only Bad reports eleven days of
fever. According to these authors, patients are free from fever
on the average of six days. Since in these statistics complicated
and uncomplicated cases were included, while in my hospital
there was not a single case of fresh complication, it would seem
that the removal of fever under our treatment takes somewhat
more time than in the Salicylic treatment of the Old School. But
the matter turns at once in our favor when we compare the
length of the treatment. Among the nine reporting clinical prac-
titioners, only one, Owen, has a less number of days than we;
1. e.y 23 days; the next one is Pribram, who reports 429 cases care-
fully observed, with 29 days, while the highest, Ryssel, reports
38 days. The average of their duration of hospital cases is 32^
days, while in our hospital the average number of the days of
treatment was 25.
Eight clinical eases would not, indeed, prove much; but in
my 38 private cases and lodge cases I obtained almost the same
result as in our clinique, namely, a duration of treatment of 24
days. In these 38 cases the date of dismissal from hospital is
considered as equal to the dismissal of cases as cured. If we take
8c Observations on Acute Rheumatism.
merely the lodge patients, I, indeed, receive exactly the same
results as in the clinique, namely, 25 days. Since my observa-
tions extend over five years, during which the "genius epi-
demicus " was varied, the fact that the same result was reached
in the hospital shows that there is no mere accident, but that
these facts are due to the peculiar therapy used.
In my hospital cases work could be resumed on the thirtieth
day. With my lodge patients this resumption fluctuated be-
tween 8 and 96 days, but the average was about 30 days, to be
quite exact, 29.5 days. Thus it will be seen that in this class of
patients the duration of treatment, as well as the time of resump-
tion of labor, shows almost exactly the same mathematical result
as in the hospital. Lodge patients are better suited for com-
parisons than private patients, because, through the control of
the lodge books, there is a more sure report of the time of the
resumption of labor. With women we have put the time of their
resumption of domestic work as equivalent with the resumption
of labor. A corresponding computation of my 18 private patients
gives an even somewhat more favorable result, namely, 28 days.
While with the exception of fever, we can very well sustain
the competition with the old school as respects the duration of
the disease and the resumption of labor, our method beyond all
doubt gives better results as to the prevention of complications
with heart disease than the Salicylic treatment of the old school.
Among my 46 cases there were 24 cases of fresh rheumatic cases,
and there is only one case of fresh endocarditis, or to express
myself more cautiously, there was only one case in which endo-
carditis could be diagnosed intra vitam. For it is well known
that especially in this disease of the heart men are very liable to
make mistakes. In cases where during life no noises could be
perceived, dissections have disclosed well-defined valvular
changes, while on the other hand autopsies have shown nothing
the matter with the heart, though there seemed to be a indisput-
able diagnosis of heart disease.
So much I can declare with certainty, that with the one excep-
tion noted, there was no recognizable case of endocarditis. Ex-
pressed in per cents this would show exactly 2% of complications
with heart disease or 4% if we only take in consideration the
fresh or recent cases.
In contradistinction the authors above cited give the number
of complications with heart disease in Salicylic treatment at
Observations on Acute Rheumatism. 81
8-60%. The exact and conscientious Pribram computes it at
44-75%-
The favorable results of our treatment with 2 to 4% of compli-
cations with heart disease, I believe, should be attributed to one
remedy, namely, Benzoic acid. Only two of my rheumatic
patients out of 46 did not receive any Benzoic acid, and this be-
cause Benzoic acid in no wise corresponded with their symptoms.
One of these two cases was a woman of thirty, with whom
rheumatism was complicated with catarrhal jaundice. Here a
rapid cure was effected through Bryonia 3, alternating every four
hours with Natrum sulph. 2. The second case was a boy of ten
years of age whose rheumatism had developed from Erythema
7iodosum. Apis 3 and Ferrum phosphor. 4 were the remedies
here indicated, which, in connection with sudatory treatment,
effected a cure in fourteen days.
I would especially note that the only case of rheumatism com-
bined with recent endocarditis was not treated with Benzoic acid
before the complication with heart disease had developed. This
was the case mentioned above, of hyperpyrexia. The temper-
ature which I took myself, in the axilla, was 107! The disease
in this case started from the beginning with extreme violence
and with a severe disturbance of the kidneys. Taking the
symptoms together, especially the extreme acidity of the urine,
seemed to me at first to indicate Nitrum. But when the com-
plication with heart disease set in, soon followed by pleurisy, I
passed over at once to Aconite 2 and Acidnm benzoic. 2. After
the acute symptoms had disappeared, I prescribed Arsenicum 4.
In spite of the violence of the disease, the patient recovered, and
this in the comparatively short time of 46 days, and the heart
disease (insufficiency of the mitral valve) has so far diminished
that now, after almost five years, only a practiced ear can dis-
cern it.
I am convinced that besides Aconite and Arsenicum, Acid,
benzoic has a great part in these good results, although it was
only given after these complications had developed. For this
opinion I find a support in Farrington, who recommends this
Acid as well as Lithium, Ledum and Kalmia in deposits upon
the valves of the heart; its special indication is the sedimentary
urine of a peculiarly strong odor. Also Dewey emphasizes the
fact that Benzoic, acid is useful in articular rheumatism, especially
in those who have heart disease. Among German authors it is
82 Observations on Acnte Rheumatism.
especially Puhlmann, who recommends it warmly for the pre-
vention of heart disease.
Of provings of Benzoic acid on healthy persons we have es-
pecially the compilation made by Dr. Const. Hering in 1854
and reprinted in GrauvogPs Manal of Homoeopathy, 1866 (vol.
II, p. 3, etc.) This still leaves much to be desired, but yet it
shows clearly that besides its ability of causing rheumatic pains
in the limbs, and of changing the urine, Benzoic acid has a
special relation to the heart. The proves had palpitation of the
heart (especially at night), pain in the cardiac region and
dyspnoea. The latter is probably caused in part by the action
on the lungs. I myself have found several times an accelerated
pulse in patients to whom I was giving Be?izoic acid in cumu-
lative doses.
I would not omit to state that also representatives of the old
school have observed that Benzoic acid is able to prevent com-
plications of the heart, aud this as early as 1877. Prof. Pribram
writes in his Manal, published in 1899, on Articular Rheumatism
(p. 489): Benzoic acid, closely related to Salicylic acid, and
Benzoate of soda were recommended in [877 by Senator in cases
in which Salicylic acid refuses to act or cannot be borne. Senator
gave as much as 10 to 12 grammes of the acid and 12 to 15
grammes of the Benzoate (in a powder, ^2 to 1 gramme every
1 to 3 hours. The soda salt, which is preferable, may be given
in a solution of 10 to 15% in aromatic water, with or without the
addition of sugar. Twenty- two cases treated only with Benzoic
acid or with the Benzoate were cured within 2-1 1 days. There
were no relapses and no other complications. Four cases that
had been ineffectually treated with Salicylic acid were cured or
improved by Benzoic acid; in six cases Benzoic acid would not act
and Salicylic acid effected a cure. On the whole, Be?izoic acid is
less effective than Salicylic acid, but it can be given in larger
doses, is relatively cheap and has not shown any toxic effects in
the cases observed so far. One striking feature is the apparance
of a strongly reducing substance in the urine. Kobert, who on
the whole corroborates the favorable report of Senator, advises
to stop the Benzoic acid as soon as this reducing substance appears
in the urine, as he has observed in his experiments on animals
that under such circumstances its toxic effects begin. Carpaui
(18 cases) ascribes no clearly antipyretic effects to Benzoic acid
and very little analgetic effect, Before we had better substitutes
Observations o?i Acute Rheumatism. 83
for Salicylic acid we tried Benzoate of soda, and received results
agreeing with those of Senator.
Although not in sympathy with the large doses given by
Senator, I nevertheless believe that Benzoic acid must certainly
be given in low potencies. Also with other remedies it seems to
me that arthritic rheumatism calls for strong doses, and in this
opinion I have no less an authority than Bsehr with me.
As to the doses of Benzoic acid, I believe that a low potency of
Be?izoic acid is absolutely necessary, because this remedy, besides
its specific organic action on the heart and the joints, also has a
chemical action.
The peculiar changes occurring in the urine which have not
yet been accurately investigated point with certainty to a chem-
ical change in the intermediate chemical combination. In order
to enter into chemical combination, it needs definite quantities of
the elements. I usually give the second decimal trituration
every two hours, about \ or \ of a gramme, dry; in severe cases
I give it cumulatively in the afternoon, say, every quarter of an
hour for one or two hours.
Now, as to the indications for Benzoic acid ; it is, of course,
not a specific for rheumatism; the best results and the most mani-
fest effects are seen when the urine has the well-known, peculiar
sharp smell, with sediment, especially when there is also an alkali?ie
reaction. But even under such circumstances there will seldom
be seen such a diminution of fever and as rapid a disappearance
of the morbid symptoms as are experienced in a topical case of
Salicylic acid. Nor is Benzoic acid a sure preventive of re-
lapses. But the avoidance of bad effects on the heart is much
more sure in this remedy than with the Salicylic treatment, and
this seems to be assured even in cases where the urine has not
the characteristics above noted.
In consequence, I have made it a rule that when there is not a
contra-indication (e. g. , an eversion of the stomach to the remedy,
or when Benzoic acid in no wise agrees with the symptoms) I al-
ways give Benzoic acid to prevent the rheumatism from extend-
ing to the heart, giving at the same time the other homoeopathic
remedies. Among these homoeopathic remedies Bryonia and
Rhus with me stand first; I prescribed the former in 19 cases
and the latter in 18. At a distance follows Mercurius, which ap-
peared to be indicated five times; as also Iodide of Potassium in
the saline solution. The latter remedy is found of further use
84 Observations on Acute Rheumatism.
in complications. Then I used three times Ferrum phosphor.,
and two times Aconite, Arsenic, alb., Arsen. jodat., Colocynthis ,
Spigelia and Sulphur. The following remedies were used once:
Apis, Belladonna, Causticum, Gelseuiium, Kali carbon., Natrum
nitric, Natrum sulph., Tartarus emetic and Thuja.
I now come to external measiires.
On account of the pains, which sometimes cannot always be
quickly removed by our internal remedies, we cannot well do
without calling in external remedies. Among these we would
first mention hydrotherapeutic measures. Even Hippocrates and
Celsus recommended application of cold in the form of com-
presses and ablutions. I believe, with Skoda, that we ought to
consider whether the patient feels better frum hot or cold treat-
ment. The treatment of the joints affected by means of hot or
cold compresses is often useful, though inconvenient on account
of the frequent changes required. On this account the Priessnitz
compresses with diluted tincture of Bryonia are preferable. Of
course these are especially suitable when Bryonia is also inter-
nally suitable, and the patient feels most comfortable when the
joints are kept quiet. Such patients are benefited even by
simply keeping the joints from being moved.
I have also found packing with a \oc/( solution of Ichthyol in
Glyceri?ie very soothing and effective, only care must be taken
that the solution may not percolate through the compress and
soil the linen. In what way this solution effects the allayment
of the pains I do not know; perhaps the sulphur contained in it,
which, under certain circumstances, is also homceopathically
indicated, plays a part in it, through its effects on the veins In
some cases, where Ichthyol failed to relieve, a compress with a
soft soap proved of service; this rather drastic treatment I first
saw used in the military hospital at Magdeburg, where it was
applied in chronic inflammation of the knee joint. The intense
irritation of the skin produced is in this case probably the effect-
ive principle. To these external measures should be added with
reconvalescents: vapor-baths and massage.
A fewT words, in conclusion, with respect to the complications
observed by me. I have already mentioned the only case of
endocarditis occurring in my practice, which took a compar-
atively favorable course on the application of Aconite, Beyizoic
acid and Arsenicum. The same patient was also seized with
pleuritis exsudativa. This was promptly relieved by Tartarus
Book Notices. 85
emeticus D. 3., and Bryonia D. 3., and Arsenicum jodat D. 4. Of
the other complications that frequently attend articular rheuma-
tism, I have only once seen suppurative meningitis. Whether
the rheumatism and the meningitis were both caused by the
same morbific agent, or whether two different diseases met to-
gether, could not be determined. The case was not fully cleared
up because the patient, at the wish of his relatives, was removed
to St. Jacob's Hospital.
The discussion of attendant complications is naturally fol-
lowed by the consideration of infections which may be mixed up
with it. The most important infection in my estimation is that
of gonorrhoea; this is found not infrequently mixed up with it,
besides the rheumatism, which is caused by gonorrhoea. Among
the 46 cases mentioned above two were complicated with gonor-
rhoea. They had a very inert course; 45 days in the one case
and 90 days in the other were required before the men could re-
sume their work. These two cases showed hardly any reaction
Sifter Benzoic acid, while Iodide of potassium showed itself very
effective, especially in one of these cases. I may add, that the
second case was eventually perfectly cured by Roentgen rays,
which, as far as I know, were first recommended by Pfeiffer in
Wiesbaden.
BOOK NOTICES.
Various Verses. By Willian Tod Helmuth. 79 pages.
Cloth, $1.00. Full calf, $3.00. Postage, 6 cents. Philadelphia:
Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
A dainty little volume of verses by our own poet Helmuth.
Some of them suggest.
Some thought like a beautiful far distant strain.
To quote from the book itself, but the greater part is rattling
and jolly or satiric. For instance from " Lake Maggiore:"
Its hot and its, humid and dusty
Malaria lurks in each glow,
The hotels are dirty ^nd musty
I've been there last week and I know.
Here is one or bite of it "To Sorosis:
Who stole my wife by day and night
And sent her home in sorry plight,
A most dilapidated sight ?
Sorosis.
86 Book Notices.
Who taught my pious lips to swear
When I put on my underwear
And found a button was not there?
Sorosis.
Or where the patient, a countryman, is taken to the hospital
and the surgeon remarks:
I'll cut this out all right, my man, it will not hurt;
for you
Will sleep with anaesthesia, and then I'll put
yer through.
And then the patient gets riled and declines sleep with Ann
Thesia.
Get a copy and enjoy it.
The A, B, C Manual of Materia Medica and Therapeutics,
G. Hardy Clark, M. D. 197 pages. Cloth, $1.00; by mail,
$1.07. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
Dr. Clark, at the end of his preface, says:
ft The writer has ventured to assume that the simplification of
the subject gained by referring only to toxic effects of drugs*
their therapeutic uses in non-toxic doses, the relation of the two
as indicated by numerals, and the elimination of controversial
matter, is sufficient warrant for offering this manual to students
and to his fellow practitioners.
He has to make acknowledgment for material that has
been freely drawn from the writings of Bartholow, Hempel,
Hughes, Ringer, Stille, Wood and others."
That will give the reader the keynote to this rathar remark-
able little book — a book, by the way, that is considerably more
than an A, B, C Manual, covering about two hundred drugs
that are prescribed by physicians of all " schools."
The space devoted to each drug averages about one page which
is divided into four parts, namely: "Characteristics," ''Toxic
effects," "Dose" and " Therapeutic uses."
The "Dose" covers all the forms in which the drug is pre-
scribed, homoeopathic and old school, or, if you prefer it,
scientific medicine, and the book will, therefore, appeal to a
large number of physicians and medical students.
The " Toxic effects " are those of undisputed authenticity and
they are mostly numbered. These are referred to in the " Ther-
apeutic uses."
That the book will not please every one is a foregone conclu-
sion, but that it is just what many are looking for is equally
true.
Book Notices. 87
Obstetric and Gynecologic Nursing. By E. P. Davis, A. M.,
M. D., Professor of Obstetrics in Jefferson Medical College and
Philadelphia Polyclinic. i2tno. volume of 402 pages, fully
illustrated. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co.
1 901. Price, $1.75 net.
This volume is designed to furnish instruction as to the
various duties of the obstetric and gynecologic nurse. Obstetric
nursing demands some knowledge of natural pregnancy, and of
the signs of accidents and diseases which may occur during preg-
nancy. It also requires knowledge and experience in the care of
the patient during the labor and her complete recovery, with the
needs of her child. The obstetric nurse must also know how to
help patient and doctor in the accidents and complications of
labor, and has an important part to play in caring for mother
and child in the diseases which occasionally attack them during
the puerperal period. Gynecologic nursing requires special
instruction and training and a thorough knowledge and drill in
asepsis and antisepsis are absolutely indispensable.
Home Treatment and Care of the Sick. Including chapters
on Approaching Maturity, Marriage and Maternity. By A.
Temple Lovering, M. D. 376 pages, cloth. Boston and
Providence: Otis Clapp & Son. 1901.
The subject matter is considered in two parts. Part I, in
seven chapters, treats of the Preservation of Health, Home
Nursing, Diseases in General and their Treatment, Accidents
and Emergencies, and Leading Remedies: Their Administration
and Indication for Use.
Part II. Marriage and Maternity: The Baby in Health and
Sickness; Diseases of childhood, Approaching Maternity; Suit-
able Food for the Sick.
The short description of the more common diseases is pertinent
and plain, and the remedies given with their indications are such
as have been found by practice to be most reliable.
The American Year-Book of Medicine and Surgery for
1901. A Yearly Digest of Scientific Progress and Authori-
tative Opinion in all branches of Medicine and Surgery, drawn
from journals, monographs and text-books of the leading
American and foreign authors and investigators. Arranged
with critical editorial comments, by eminent American special-
88 Book Notices.
ists. In two volumes — Volume I, including General Medicine,
Octavo, 68 1 pages, illustrated; Volume II, General Surgery,
Octavo, 610 pages, illustrated. Philadelphia and London:
W. B. Saunders & Co. 1901. Per volume: Cloth, $3.00 net;
Half Morocco, $3 75 net.
The issue of the Year-Book for 1900 in two volumes met with
such general approval from the profession that the publishers
decided to follow the same plan with the Year-Book for 1901.
This arrangement has a two-fold advantage. To the physician
who uses the entire book it offers an increased amount of matter
in the most convenient form for easy consultation, and without
any increase in pi ice; while specialists and others who want
either the medical or the surgical section alone, secure the com
plete consideration of their branch at a nominal sum, without
the necessity of purchasing considerable material for which they
have no special use. The editor. Dr. Geo. M. Gould, has done
his part in the thorough and scholarly manner that characterizes
all his literary work. The two volumes'are handsomely printed
and finely illustrated, a credit to the publishers, who are certainly
hustlers to get out this year-book so soon after January 1st.
The Recorder's copies came on February 6th.
Messrs. Herbert S. Stone & Co., of Chicago, have in prepa-
ration and to be issued shortly a translation of the seventh German
edition of Dr. Franz Kcenig's A Text- Book of Special Surgery.
It is an authorized translation and the whole will consist of three
large volumes, with about three hundred illustrations.
A Text Book on Practical Obstetrics By Egbert H.
Grandin. M. D. Gynecologist to the Columbus Hospital;
Consulting Gynecologist to the French Hospital; Late Con-
sulting Obstetric and Obstetric Surgeon of the New York
Maternity Hospital; Late Obstetrican of the New York Infant
Asylum; Fellow of the American Gynecological Society of the
New YorkAcademy of Medicine, of the New York Obstetrical
Society, etc., etc., etc., with the collaboration of George W.
Jarman, M. D. Gynecologist to the Cancer Hospital; Instructor
in Gynecology in the Medical Department of the Columbia
University; Late Obstetric Surgeon of the New York Maternity
Hospital; Fellow of the American Gynecological Society, of
the New York Academy of Medicine, of the New York Obstet-
rical Society, etc. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged.
Illustrated with Fifty-two Full-Page Photographic Plates and
One Hundred and Five Illustrations in the Text. 6^x9^
inches. Pages xiv-511. Extra Cloth, S4.00, net; Sheep,
$4.75, net. F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry
Street Philadelphia.
The third edition of this standard work has been enlarged by
the addition of a chapter on the anatomy of the female organs
of generation and embryology.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE Sz TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM
Address communications, books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
Dr. J. C. Andrews {Eclectic Medical Journal for February)
contributes his share of praise to the heart-remedy, Cratcsgus
oxyacantha. In four cases, really desperate ones, it did all a
remedy could. One of these cases was angina pectoris, and
patient during attacks would become cyanotic.
A correspondent of the Medical Record, Dr. Harry R.
Bashore, living on the banks of the Susquehanna river, writes
that journal his experience with the Anopheles. During the hot
months of last summer, and with a very low river, mosquitoes
abounded. During that' period he caught and examined five
hundred and forty specimens, of which one hundred and forty
were the Anopheles; there was one mild case of fever. After a
cold wave in September when mosquitoes were scarce but Ano-
pheles still present there was a bad outbreak of the fever. In
October the Anopheles and other mosquitoes were still in evi-
dence; of the number caught then sixteen per cent, were Ano-
pheles; the fever had vanished from the community. All the
mosquitoes were caught around the doctor's own house, but there
were no fever cases in it.
Whatever merit there is in the " arsenization theory " cer-
tainly and unquestionably belongs to Dr. R. B. Leach, who has
been advocating it for years. But it seems that the great Stern-
berg has turned Dr. Leach down, for the sole reason apparently
that he is a homoeopath. In his fight for his rights Dr. Leach
has the sympathy of all men who believe in fair play.
Intermittent, cold, clammy perspiration is said to be a most
reliable indication for Cuprum ars., a symptom of no other drug
90 Editorial.
CERTAix]gentlemen in Cuba, working in the name of Uncle
Sam, have announced that the mosquito is the sole and only
cause of yellow fever. Wonder how these scientists would ac-
count for the fact that Ben. Butler, during the " late unpleasant-
ness," drove the fever out of New Orleans by the unscientific
method of cleaning up the city ? And how account for the fact
that the first frost kills the disease and not the mosquitoes ? And
how about the fact that the disease has several times landed
from a ship with nary a skeet aboard, and spread?
In that beautiful shindy between Hubbard, the Philistine,
maker of books and things, and the only Doctor George M.
Gould, the latter asserts: "There are one million men in this
country who make a life work of the study and cure of disease."
Polk, the Directory man, ought to sue George for libel, for he,
Polk, in his book has only run down a little over a tenth of a
million. Hubbard among his other retorts, courteous and other-
wise, makes the following, and otherwise: "I would rather be
wrong and go to hell with Walt Whitman " (where Gould con-
signs him) " than be right and play a harp in heaven alongside
of Dr. Gould." Oh, dear, dear ! !
Mr. James Hopper, a citizen of Havre-de-Grace, Md., writes
us that there is an opening there for a good homoeopathic phy-
sician. There was one located there for a number of years, but
he moved to a larger city. The town has about 4,000 inhabitants
and in a beautiful part of the country.
If you have an old drinker on hands who has got down to the
trembling stage, nearly done for, Apocynum cannabinum decoc-
tion, twenty or thirty drops, will steady him, so those say who
have tried it, better than anything else.
Dr. H. A. Richy, in Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal,
tells of a case of rheumatism, to which he was called after it had
been under care of another physician for some time, and from
his paper the following is clipped:
" His wife stated that while he was quiet in the day time, at
night he was delirious and could hardly be restrained from
leaving his bed. Examination revealed the existence of pericar-
Editorial. 91
ditis; endocarditis was apparently absent. Suspecting that a
great deal of the trouble was caused by the large doses of sodium
salicylate which the sufferer was taking, I stopped the medicine,
and substituted in its place some dry champagne wine, with a
substantial nourishment."
After stopping " the only remedy for rheumatism " the patient
rallied and in time recovered.
Bellairs in Homoeopathic World claims that Psoiinum 30 will
cure mange in dogs, eczema in human beings; it is also the con-
stitutional remedy for hay-fever.
A correspondent asks if it is contrary to the ethics of the
medical profession to own stock in a medicine company whose
goods he may find it financially beneficial to prescribe. It is a
difficult question to answer, and indeed one that may be left to
the conscience of the profession, which in the long run is a safe
guide. Some day the great medical bodies may take it up, for
the practice seems to be growing.
Antitoxine, the serio-comic of medicine, continues to receive
constant attention in the journals and promises to remain a prom-
inent subject for future discussion. This is right, for the profes-
sion has never had a more momentous question to settle. In the
interest of true medical progress, the fallacies of serum therapy
must be exposed and the mistaken views concerning statistics
based on antitoxine treatment corrected; for, if it is not done
now, and we blindly follow the bell-wethers of bacteriology,
they will lead us into a mire of mistaken conjecture out of which
it will take the profession a long time to flounder back to the
firm ground of scientific truth. — Dr. J. Edward Herman in Neiv
York Medical Journal.
The following is clipped from a long review of the recently
translated Repertory of the Antipsorics of Bcenninghausen; trans-
lator, Boger:
" Like the other discoveries of the secrets of nature— the facts
and phenomena of nature — by distinguished men like Newton and
others, Hahnemann's discovery of the law of similars, the only
92 Editorial.
natural law for the cure of diseases, occupy no less an important
place in the history of the universe. But his discovery of the
chronic disease theory — the doctrine of chronic miasms — is one
the equal of which has not yet been dreamt by any human brain.
It is the life-saving nectar that the heavens have been pleased to
send to the world to save the lives of the suffering humanity.
Followers of Hahnemannian law of cure and its principles hare
not only read from Hahnemann's unparalleled writings but have,
by means of long observation and extensive experience, during
the three scores of years and more, since its discovery, not failed
to perceive for themselves and to demonstrate before the universe
the great usefulness as well as the utmost importance of Hahne-
mann's doctrine of the chronic miasms.
During the early days of Hahnemann's homoeopathic career
he found, by his keenest powers of observation, that some dis-
eases when met by the similimum are only temporarily relieved,
that the same phase of disease recurs, or a new one presents
itself, which again requires to be met by a similimum. The
universality of his natural law of cure showed him in his prac-
tice its infallible character. How then to account for these
abnormal phenomena in the treatment of diseases ? In order to
study the cause of these phenomena, he resolved to place all such
disturbances and anomalies on the way to perfeet cure under
strict observation. His unparalleled powers of observation, his
keenest mental faculties and his superhuman powers of penetra-
tion opened before him the way to the solution of this problem.
At the end of twelve years, after hard labor, keen observation
and vast experience on innumerable cases of diseases, he was able
to offer to the world the result of his observation, declaring a
miasmatic base to be the foundation of all chronic, progressive,
often incurable diseases. Three chronic miasms — Psora, Syphilis
and Sycosis — he found out to guide the fate of humanity. All
miasmatic influences originate in contagious principle introduced
into the system through contact, inoculation, or heritage. Sup-
pression, or recessation of the innumerable manifestations of
miasmatic influences has but the result to fix the locality of the
various diseases they produce deeper in the system, and nearer
to the vital organs. The very fact of one suffering from a chronic
disease is proof of the presence of these miasms. The predisposing
cause of all chronic disease, of the different susceptibilities, of the
various individual constitutional peculiarities, etc., depends nee-
Editorial. 93
essarily on one or more of these miasms. Hahnemann left us
the greatest and most sacred of all blessings. His admirable work
— The Chro?iic Diseases — is an invaluable and inseparable com-
panion to the Homceopathician." — Indian Homceopathician.
"There is a certain body of physicians who believe that the
science of homoeopathy was not only originated, but was com-
pleted by Hahnemann, and that the vagaries of his declining
years in prescribing infinite decimal doses were as much a part
of the system as the law of cure itself." Medical Student, January.
Dr. Ben. H. Brodnax, in the Wisconsin Medical Recorder,
says: "I discovered some time since that epsom salts solution
applied to a scar removed the cicatricial tissue in a few weeks or
days. I used one teaspoonful of the salt in four ounces of water
applied three or four minutes every day. I was in the moun-
tains and had nothing else to kill bed bugs, and used the solution
in that way. But I was surprised to see the mark of an axe on
my leg that I had carried for fifty years vanish almost entirely.
I haved tried it in many cases and it takes away the scar. So I
thought that as cancer often arises in cicatricial tissues, it would
do good, and have been using it for that purpose also."
"Last summer I was up in the mountains and met a reverend
gentleman. I noted that he had grown very fat and short wind-
ed that he had panted on very little exertion. I told him what
I know about epsom salts and directed him to sponge his whole
body night and morning with Epsom salts, one part; Water, six-
teen parts. Also to take a teaspoonful of the same three times
a day. His weight was then 238 pounds. I saw him six weeks
ago (May 15), and he weighed 198 pounds, his normal weight;
sixty pounds reduction in eight months. He is strong and active,
feeling well every way. He told me he followed directions
strictly and improved from the start."
DR. WELLS LEFEVRE vs. THE ARBITRARY
HEALTH BOARD.
The following interesting letter and newspaper clipping tells
its own story. In the days when the family physician treated
small-pox the homoeopaths found Vatiolinum and Malandrinum
far safer and more efficient than vaccination:
94 Editorial.
Editor of Homoeopathic Recorder.
I send you under separate cover by to-day's mail copies of our local
papers on the little war being waged by the local board of health against
my homceopathic prescription of Variolinum as a preventive of small-pox.
I greatly deplore this open warfare, and I only make it after making
every possible concession to my opponents.
I am now driven to the wall, however, and must make this fight for
Homoeopathy, or suffer myself and school to be out-lawed.
* It is not my personal interests that prompt me most to this resistance,
but, as you can easily see, the dignity and legal rights of my homceopathic
prescription, and hence of every homoeopath in Arkansas, and incidentally
every one in the United States is involved ; and thus it is apparent how this
"tempest in the tea-pot " may assume cyclonic proportions of large import,
for it is evident they are going to put up their best fight, and hence it is un-
necessary for me to add that it may be well for the homceopathic profes-
sion to stand close by where I may get help, if I need it, in defending our
mutual interest.
I am here alone, and the only homceopathist able to stay so long as one
year. I have been fought in the open field and from behind stumps (chiefly
the latter i by our allopathic brethren. Xo scheme has been too low for
their use, but by the help of the Lord and Samuel Hahnemann, I am still
here.
We prefer to make the local fight alone, except with the assistance of my
patrons, among whom are some of the wealthiest and most intelligent citi-
zens of Pine Bluff, and these are supporting us handsomely in the fight. We
are promised an early hearing in the Circuit Court, and in the event of our
failure there we shall appeal to the State Supreme, and thence to the United
States Supreme Court, where my adherents say it must go if necessary to
get our rights.
I have written to Drs. Hallman and Hale, of Hot Springs, asking their
co-operation. They went through an epidemic using internal vaccination
with me six years ago, and I am now in the middle of my second epidemic
here.
Internal vaccination has proven highly satisfactory to us, under some se-
vere tests.
You shall be advised of our progress, and I hope to make a report of my
experience before long to the profession.
Fraternally yours,
Wells LeFevre.
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, February 6, igoi.
The following is from the Pine Bluff Commercial :
It appears that there is to be a lively contest between the Pine Bluff Board
of Health and the adherents of Homoeopathy. Dr. Wells LeFevre and the
police court have locked horns on the question.
The mavor has heretofore issued a proclamation that everybody shall be
vaccinated by scarification, and this method is opposed by homoeopathic
physicians. The city council appointed Dr. Carruthers to vaccinate every-
body by this method, or see that the people had been so vaccinated. Dr.
Editorial. 95
LeFevre refused to be vaccinated by this means. He was accordingly placed
under arrest and carried before Judge Brown yesterday. He was fined S25
for not complying to the mayor's proclamation, but is determined to have
the matter determined in the highest courts, and so appealed from Judge
Brown's decision.
He has given us the following interview:
Editor Commercial :
You request a statement from me about my arrest for not being vaccinated
by scarification. I have the honor to say that I was so arrested yesterday,
and am under arrest for the same offense again to-day, and our dear mayor
has sent me word that I shall be arrested and fined every day until I bow
down and worship his gods. Now, is this not enough to scare anybody into
having small-pox ?
Will I be vaccinated by scarification ? Well, not to-day at least, and not
at all unless the mayor can dispossess me of the rights and privileges with
which the State of Arkansas has clothed me. The said State says I am
regularly educated and legally qualified to practice my profession in all its
branches, and now comes our astute lord rnayor and his invincible board of
health and they say that I am no such thing. Now, I wonder who has lied ?
I have taken an appeal from the decision of the police court, and we hope
to be somewhat wiser on this subject in a few days. Meantime myself and
all my patrons who prefer the internal vaccination, as it is being practiced
in accord with the principles and teachings of the homoeopathic school of
medicine to which I belong, will continue to refuse to be vaccinated by the
dangerous, unreliable and unscientific method of scarification.
Very truly yours,
Weees LeFevre.
Dr. LeFevre is right and for the sake of the physical welfare
of humanity we hope he will win in this fight. Internal vacci-
nation is safe, and far more efficacious than the scarification
method.
In Italy at the Seropathic Institute of Milan, according to
Chemist and Druggist, January 19th, the wrong bacillus got into
the diphtheria serum with the result that eight persons " met
with horrible deaths." " The accident has caused somewhat of
a scare amongst the public and the medical profession in Italy,
and, it is thought, may check use of the serum in other
countries as well." Perhaps they may not have perished in vain
if this be the case.
PERSONALS.
Dr. Petrie Hoyle has opened an office, 7o5 Sutter street, San Francisco,
California.
"A pupil of D.-. S ;h'u;ss'er !" Hj,v poor old Ananias must mourn his
lost distinction.
O-iresteemel frieid. D :. George M. Gould, was dismissed without a
moment's notice from the Phil. Med. Monthly. He will start another. Suc-
cess to ye !
"Tae Duster Buster Homoeopathic Pharmacy Company offers twelve
chronic patie its to every doctor buying $2.00 worth of our superior medi-
cines." The coming ad.
" Disinfecting the blool with quinine " is the way one of them puts it.
Wall street always suspects an industrial stock that pays big dividends at
the start. They generally drop later on.
Really there is no fight between pathology and symptomatogy; each has
its place. Do not try to crowd out either.
Dr. Wapler's paper on the superiority of the homoeopathic remedy over
the routine Salicylic acid is worth reading. See page jg.
And uow they are saying that the free use of sugar may be a good thing
in diabetes.
The W. C. T. U. has killed the army canteen and thereby earned the
thanks of all the small grogeries, which will now get all the trade for their
rot-gut whiskey.
The circulation dreamers of homoeopathic journals have been dreaming
strange dreams, and printing them, too.
When the people get tired of reading about the antics of Mrs. Nation she
will drop into the dimly remembered past.
Come, gentlemen, you all should have some Various Verses and the sup-
ply is limited.
Clark's A, B, C will please those who want modern Homoeopathy.
It is not all grippe that is called so.
What a restful world it would be if all the reformers would go out of
business !
Stop Whiskey ! Tea ! Beer ! Wine ! Gin ! Rum ! Coffee ! Good living !
Warm houses ! Spitting ! Stop everything and Lymph 'em ! Isolate 'em !
Regulate 'em ! Harry 'em for their own good !
Boericke & Tafel's " Jottings,'' that they have been sending out lately, is
a rather neat affair.
They say the Boers wear rubbers to keep de wet from de feet.
Wnile the profession is fighting the Osteopaths and Christian scientists
the " Vibration," the " I am " people are waxing rich treating people.
Subscribe for the RECORDER. $1.00 a year.
Dr. A. R. Morgan, of Waterbury, Conn., has contributed a good paper to
the Waterbury American on the " Claims of Homoeopathy."
When occasion serves it is a good thing to write boldly to your local
papers.
The bacteriologists now warn us of the "danger" of bacteria in salads.
Never again will we partake.
Katherine M. Crawford has removed from Duffieid to York, Pa.
No, John, there is no remedy for " aversion to arise in the morning " save
a pot of money, so you don't have to.
THE
HOMCEOPATHIC RECORDER.
Vol. XVI Lancaster, Pa. MARCH, 1901. No. 3
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Tenth Annual Session. 1853.
The American Institute of Homoeopathy commenced its tenth
annual session in Pulte's National Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, on
Wednesday, June 8th, 1853, at ten o'clock a. m., and was
called to order by the General Secretary, Wm. A. Gardiner, M.
D. The roll of members was answered by about fifty physi-
cians.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, was elected the
presiding officer.
The Board of Censors on Election of New Members was ap-
pointed, being composed of John Redman Coxe, Jr., M. D., of
Philadelphia; J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburgh; Lewis Dodge, M.
D., of Cleveland; S. B. Barlow, M. D., of New York, and G. W.
Bigler, M. D., of Cincinnati.
The Committee to audit the Treasurer's account was G. W.
Swazey, M. D., Springfield, Mass.; J. G. Loomis, M. D , Phila-
delphia; F. R. McManus, M. D., Baltimore; C. D. Williams, M.
D., and J. H. Pulte, M. D., Cleveland.
S. R. Kirby, M. D., offered his report as Treasurer, which
was referred to the Committee.
Edward Bayard, M. D., as Chairman of Committee on Blisters,
made a verbal report and asked to be continued until next year.
The Committee on the Translation of the Materia Medica Pura
again failed to report and were excused from further consider-
ation of the matter.
98 American Institute of HomceopatJiy.
J. Barlow, M. D., Chairman of the Committee on Cholera,
made a verbal report and desired to be continued another year.
The Central Bureau, never failing, made an acceptable report
which was published.
The New York Homoeopathic Society handed in an acceptable
report which was published.
The Philadelphia Homoeopathic Society upon request, was
accepted as an auxiliary branch. It presented its first report,
which was accepted and published.
The Cincinnati Homoeopathic Society made a report which
was accepted and published.
J. Colby, M. D., of Salem, Mass., presented a communication
upon his treatment of a case of tetanus with cold water and his
successful cure with homoeopathic remedies after the spasms
were reduced.
W. R. Power, M. D., of Philadelphia, presented a communi-
cation upon his success in the treatment of variola and varioloid
with vaccinin and variolin. Read, accepted and printed.
S. S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, offered an acceptable com-
munication giving a discursive account of his successful treat-
ment of diphtheritic sore throat.
Alexis Eustaphieve, Esq., Russian Consul, residing in New
York, reported to the Institute that he had in his possession
genuine hydrophobin which he was willing to distribute among
homoeopathic physicians from which to make provings.
The Institute sent a vote of thanks to the Consul and ad-
vised members to accept of the remedy for scientific investiga-
tion and proving.
F. R. McManus, M. D., offered a resolution, which was
adopted : "That the members of the Institute who shall sign the
certificate of an applicant for membership shall state upon the
certificate the name of the medical college from which such ap-
plicant shall have graduated."
J. H Pulte, M. D., offered the following amendment to
article 7 of the By-Laws, which was adopted:
" That the Seventh Article of the By-Laws shall be amended
in such a manner as to substitute for the word appointed the
words ELECTED BY BALLOT."
At the afternoon session the Board of Censors on the Election
of New Members reported
American Institute of Homoeopathy.
99
William Caine,
John Tifft,
A. F. Bissell,
Calvin Starr,
J. H. Coulter,
A. O. Blair,
E. W. Coules,
G. W. Barnes,
M. Y. Turrill,
A. R. Burritt,
F. W. Skiles,
Jehu Brainerd,
A. Whipple,
J. M. Parks,
Jesse Garretson,
I. T. Talbot,
H. C. Angell,
J. P. Paine,
A. Walker,
N. H. Warner,
B. F. Joslin, Jr.,
Moses Anderson,
W. H. Hanford,
R. Titsworth,
J. B. Stretch,
Ross M. Wilkinson,
J. B. Hutchinson,
Wright,
Macy,
Johnson,
Wheat,
Helmuth,
M. D.
Ravenna, Ohio.
Nor walk, "
Toledo,
Springfield, "
Columbus, "
< < <t
Cleveland,
<< <<
Cincinnati,
Boston,
Salem,
Dedham,
Pontiac,
Buffalo,
New York.
Mass.
Mich.
N. Y.
Williamsburg, L. I.
Plainfield, N.J.
Salem,
Bordentown, "
Madison, Ind.
Indianapolis, "
' Elyria, O.
Dover, Ky.
Oberlia, O.
' Philadelphia, Pa.
F. R. Moore, " Pittsburgh,
All of whom were duly elected members of the Institute.
The Committee on Small-pox and the Prophylactic Virtues
of Vaccination submitted a report which was read and accepted,
arousing an interesting discussion between Drs. Williamson, R.
Gardiner, Gregg, Warner, Cox, McManus, Turrill, Williams,
Bayard and Coulter and some other members of the society.
On Wednesday evening at eight o'clock a large assembly of
physicians, ladies and gentlemen listened to the address de-
A. S
B. C
J. M
J.N.
W. T
ioo America7t Institute of Homoeopathy.
livered by Edward Bayard, M. D., who had chosen for his sub-
ject ''The Obligation of the World to Homoeopathy," in which
he compared the modus of the physician of each school, and its
results ; made clear to the listener that Homoeopathy is founded
upon incontrovertible facts in regard to the action of drugs upon
the different organs and other parts of the human frame, such
as muscle, nerve, or bone, and gave examples of the effects of
different drugs upon different subjects with apparently similar
symptoms.
His expressions of faith in Homoeopathy were sincere and his
trust in the power of Hahnemann's discovery when fully and
correctly tested to cure and even convert all who allowed them-
selves to investigate it thoroughly was convincing, and received
with applause.
The great foundation law of homoeopathic science, he claim-
ed, was not one single thought, as it had been established only
after years of toil and study. It was a law of nature which had
been discovered by the healthy man having to sicken and suffer
in order to develop the symptoms and drug indications of each
remedy to demonstrate its use and action in disease.
He spoke of the bitter opposition to medical reform by its
enemies, which all had witnessed. He referred to the fact that after
Hahnemann discovered the law of cure that he had no Materia
Medica, and how he and his followers set about to prove remedies
and construct one, for many years testing remedies upon them-
selves.
He, however, did not escape the fate of Harvey and of Jeuner
in denunciation.
Dr. Bayard then asked, "What is the obligation of the world
to Homoeopathy." He spoke of the specific action of drugs as
remedies upon the body, and of Sulphur used as a domestic
remedy, which Homoeopathy had shown was capable of produc-
ing two thousand symptoms. He said the new system taught the
directions in which the vital current should be urged, and claim-
ed that two-thirds of human suffering and human maladies were
traceable to or dependent upon medicinal drugs and their effects.
He said Homoeopathy had shown the extreme sensitiveness of
diseased nerve structure, and so great was the action excited by
the proven remedy under the application of the law of cure that
Hahnemann, atone time, almost abandoned it; but by reducing
the dose of the remedy from time to time he found the reactive
American Institute of Homoeopathy. ior
point of nature, and, by reason of this extreme sensitiveness of
•diseased nerve tissue in the case of any abnormal action came
the administration of the attenuated drug and the infinitesimal
doses. Dr. Bayard stated that "the jeering wit of the facetious
allopathists expended on this point demonstrates sorrowfully
their utter want of knowledge on this important matter."
He further stated that Homoeopathy had also given us the
great law of cure and from this we had obtained a certainty of
prescription. To obtain accurate symptoms from a sufferer
was far from being an easy matter, and to practice Homoeopathy
correctly and select the proper remedy was a matter quite as
difficult.
Knowledge and research are thus requisite in the prescriber.
Reference was made to Dr. B. F. Joslin, an eminent allopathic
physician, who had been asked by a medical friend, who had
written a tirade against Homoeopathy, what he thought of it.
Dr. Joslin said he could not give a proper opinion until he had
experimented upon himself with the new system, and in so do-
ing he subsequently became a convert to Homoeopathy, and
was at that time one of the prominent workers in the Institute.
In closing, Dr. Bayard said: "We have seen that the world is
indebted to Homoeopathia for the discovery of the pathogenetic
and specific action of drugs ; for the knowledge of the sensitive-
ness of a diseased human nerve to similar irritants ; for certainty
in prescribing a dose that is a medicine, and not a poison, and
for the great law of cure.
Immortal honor to the man who was the discoverer. Yet
upon that great head has been showered vituperation and abuse;
his investigations ridiculed and their results denied without ex-
amination; he himself characterized as a charlatan.
All that blind prejudice, selfish interest, and sordid avarice
could do was done. But it is manifest, from the rapid and wide-
spread advance of his principles, that the justice, which his
cotemporaries denied, will be fully awarded by posterity."
Dr. Bayard was tendered a vote of thanks for his able and in-
structive address. A copy of the address was requested, which
was received and published in the proceedings of the Institute
for 1853.
On Thursday morning the Institute met, and after the Com-
mittee on the Treasurer's report proved it correct, Drs. William-
son, Gregg and Dake were appointed a committee to consider
102 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
suggestions made in the report of the Philadelphia Branch
Society. After serious deliberation they made the report that
the following gentlemen, members of the Society, should be ap-
pointed to write essays upon the subjects mentioned, and report
to the Institute at the next meeting.
J. P. Dake, M. D., on the "Value of Clinical Experience and
Clinical Reports in Homoeopathic Practice."
J. G. Loomis, M. D., on " Mechanical Supports, or the Value
of Braces and Stays in Homoeopathic Practice."
C. D. Williams, M. D., "On Small-pox and Vaccination by
Kine Pox and their Relation to Other Forms of Eruptive Dis-
eases."
A. E. Small, M. D., "On the Nature, Pathology and Homoeo-
pathic Treatment of Diseases of the Respiratory Organs."
S. Gregg, M. D., " On the Nature, Pathology and Homoeo-
pathic Treatment of Diseases of the Urinary Organs."
Dr. G. S. Swazey offered a resolution, which was unanimously
adopted: Resolved, "That the American Institute of Homoe-
opathy, appreciating the friendly relations which should always
exist between all physicians who advocate the essential doctrine
of Homoeopathy, and especially between the societies and all
bodies organized for the progress of true medical science, does
now extend the right hand of fellowship to this whole western
valley, to all educated physicians who are coming to our stand-
ard of medical science in the east and west, to the pioneers of
our educational progress and strength in this western region,
who have proved themselves indomitable under the most trying-
circumstances, and to the city; and also thanks to Dr. C. D.
Williams and lady for the polite and cheerful entertainment we
have enjoyed at their house."
F. R. McManus, M. D., offered this resolution, which was
adopted: Whereas, It is a very important affair to humanity
that such a system of vaccination should be pursued as will
effectually prevent the small-pox; and, whereas, the efficiency of
the virus now in use may have degenerated from age, or from
constitutional impurities in systems from which the virus may
have been taken; it is, therefore, earnestly recommended to
every member of the Institute that inquiries shall be set on foot
throughout the country, in their immediate neighborhood, and
particularly in the spring of the year and during the summer
months, requesting the milkers of cows to report the appearance
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 103
of any particular disease upon the udder or teats of the cows, to
be examined in their different stages of development, and to be
used, when ascertained to be genuine cow-pox, in the way of
human vaccination; and that every physician who shall succeed
in thus obtaining matter shall give to the Institute, at its next
meeting, his success in its use and every observable circum-
stance connected with the progress of the disease upon the cow,
and subsequently upon the human subject.
J. S. Loomis, M. D., exhibited a new invention in ovum and
bullet forceps, and explained the manner of using them, to the
great satisfaction of the members, which gave rise to a resolu-
tion made by Dr. J. R. Coxe: That the American Institute of Ho-
moeopathy has examined with satisfaction, and is fully convinced
of the great importance of the invention of the ovum forceps,
by Dr. J. G. Loomis, of Philadelphia, in the treatment of uterine
hemorrhage attending cases of abortion and detachment of the
ovum, and also of retained placenta; and, likewise, the inven-
tion of the bullet forceps for the extraction of bullets and other
foreign bodies from deep-seated parts.
J. R. Coxe, Jr., M.D., F. R. McManus, M. D., and Milton Ham-
mond, M. D., were appointed a committee to inquire into the
validity of Dr. Jacob Schmidt's diploma, and to examine the
erasure of names ascertained to have taken place in the record
book of the Institute.
J. H. Pulte, M. D., S. R. Kirby, M D., and W. A. Gardiner,
M. D.. were appointed a committee to ascertain the names and
residences of all the Homoeopathic Physicians in the United
States, whether members of the Institute or not, such report to
be presented to the next annual meeting.
J. H. Pulte, M. D., B. F. Bowers, M. D., and W. Williamson,
M. D., were appointed to report to the next meeting a draft of a
plan for the establishing of a central Homoeopathic Pharmacy
under the control of this Institute.
J. H. Pulte, M D., K. Bayard, M. D., and C. Hering, M. D.,
were appointed to procure a stone of suitable size, if possible,
from the native place of the immortal founder of Homoeopathy,
to be placed, with a suitable inscription, in the monument in
process of erection in Washington City to the memory of the
immortal founder of this Republic, whose glorious principles of
freedom have so much contributed to the rapid spread of our be-
loved science in this, the western empire of civilization, the
104 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
expense incurred by the foregoing to be collected by private sub-
scriptions, and if such amount be not sufficient, to be paid
from the treasury of this Institute.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., was appointed to address the homoeopathic
physicians of the United States on the necessity for assiduous
exertions to improve medical science, and on the importance of
concerted action in the cause of Homoeopathy.
Edward Bayard, M. D., J. H. Pulte, M. D., S. S. Guy, M.
D., J. P. Dake, M. D., and W. Williamson, M. D., were
appointed a committee to take into consideration the propriety
of presenting Constantine Hering, M. D., with an appropriate
testimonial of distinguished consideration for the discoveries he
had made to enrich the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, and for
his persevering and universal exertions in promoting the spread
of the homoeopathic doctrines.
At the afternoon session William A. Gardiner, M. D., was
elected General Secretary.
S. S. Guy, M. D., Provisional Secretary and S. R. Kirby, M.
D., was re-elected Treasurer.
It was resolved that the next meeting of the Institute should
be held in Albany, New York, on the first Wednesday in June,
1854
H. P. Gatchell, M. D., of Cleveland, was appointed to de-
liver the next annual address, with W. E. Payne, M. D., of
Bath, Me., as his alternate.
Drs. F. Humphreys, C. Hering, W. Williamson, of Philadel-
phia; B. F. Bowers and B. F. Joslin, of New York, were ap-
pointed the Central Bateau for the enlargement and improvement
of the Materia Medica.
W. E. Payne, M. D., offered a resolution, which was discussed
by Drs. Payne, Dake, Pulte. Bayard, Swazey, Warner, Kirby
and Gatchell and laid on the table for a year : " That we regard
the homoeopathic law as co-extensive with disease and that
a resort to any other means than those pointed out by the law
similia similibus is the result, in part, of the incompleteness of
our Materia Medica ; but mainly the result of a want of sufficient
knowledge, on the part of the physician, of those remedies
already possessed by our school, and not an insufficiency of the
homoeopathic law.
The thanks of the Institute were voted to the Chairman, the
General Secretary and to J. H. Pulte, M. D., for the use of
Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York. 105
National Hall during the session. The Institute adjourned to
meet in Albany in June, 1854.
Just after the adjournment the general secretary received a
communication from Charles Neidhard, M. D., containing a de-
fense of the Materia Medica, suggestions to be followed in prov-
ing drugs, examples of the manner of the action of some medi-
cines, and agreeing with the Hahnemann theory that diseases
are dynamic in nature and first emanate in the brain, which com-
municates it to the other organs. This paper was received, ac-
cepted and published in the proceedings of 1853.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE HOMCEOPATHIC
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF
NEW YORK.
The forty- eighth annual meeting of the Empire state men is
reported in this volume. Here are a few scissoring of more or
less general interest:
Insanity and Intemperance.
Dr. C. Spencer Kinney, of the Middletown Asylum, read a
paper on ' 'The Cause of Insanity, ' ' from which we clip the follow-
ing, so contrary to the common belief :
Intemperance in the use of liquor has, in the minds of many,
furnished more insanity than any other cause; but this cannot
be accepted as true from existing facts. Degenerates are pe-
culiarly susceptible to the action of alcohol, and intemperance
has attracted attention as a cause when it is only a result, the
drinker being strongly predisposed to insanity in the first place,
and a tendency to drink being an exhibition of his stigmata.
Consequently, we consider drunkenness to be more frequently
a result of inherited predisposition to some form of insanity
than a cause by itself. It is probable that ten per cent, is a very
liberal estimate for intemperance as a cause, and, could the
facts be secured, three per cent, might be found to represent the
truth more accurately.
A Silicea Case.
Dr. W. M. Hilton read a paper on "Silicea in Caries of the
Bone." There is nothing new in the paper, but it is well every
now and then to remind the profession by positive demonstration
106 Homceopathic Medical Society of New York.
that Hahnemann's Chronic Diseases is not a mere collection of
vagaries. Silicea is one of the remedies introduced in that book.
Case I. Mrs. R., age 35, tall and spare, had a discharging
sore upon the inner side of the right tibia, about two and a half
inches above the ankle joint, which would apparently heal, then
in a week or two break out again. This had continued during a
period of two years, causing her a good deal of pain and incon-
venience, the whole leg below the knee becoming very much
swollen at times and inflamed. She had consulted several
physicians and used a great many kinds of local applications,
ointments, salves, etc. She called upon me for advice and my
diagnosis was caries of the bone, and I so informed her, and also
told her there were two methods by which she could be treated;
the quicker method, a surgical operation, curetting and remov-
ing the diseased bone. The other way, by internal remedies.
She decided to try the latter, and I gave her Silicea, 6th attenu-
ation, four times a day, and within two months she brought me a
piece of bone about an inch in length by a half at the wider end
and pointed or sharp at the other. The sore quickly healed and
I kept her under observation for about five years and there was
no return trouble. During this two months several smaller
pieces of bone were exfoliated.
No other remedy was given in either case but the Silicea.
These were cases that came under my observation about ten years
ago, and as I saw them at intervals during the five years follow-
ing the treatment I have good reason to believe they were per-
manently cured.
Bellis Perennis.
Dr. L. L. Danforth read a paper on this drug beginning as
follows:
My attention was called to this remedy while perusing that
entertaining and instructive little work by J. Compton Burnett,
of London, England, on " Organ Diseases of Women." Most of
the remedies referred to in this monograph I knew something
about, but of Bellis I knew nothing, and I have not been able to
find anything relating to the remedy in any work that I have
consulted. I shall, therefore, premise what I have to say on its
uses by quotations from the work referred to. Dr. Burnett says :
1 ' It often happens to some ladies when they are encie?ite that they
find it very inconvenient to get about, walking being very irk-
Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York. 107
some and almost impossible. In such cases the Daisy soon sets
matters right ; I mean, of course, when the cause of the trouble
lies in the mechanical circumstances and these are of a remediable
kind."
This Dr. Danforth proved to be true in his own practice, con-
cluding as follows :
It is, therefore, well named Bruisewort, and vies with Arnica
as a remedy for the relief of sore, bruised se?isations during preg-
nancy, and after confinement, and will often succeed where Arnica
fails.
Sprays.
This is from Dr. F. D. Lewis's paper and is worth considering:
The only point I wish to bring out, and I hope it may stim-
ulate some discussion, is this: Should not the care of the nasal
mucous membranes be considered as important as the care of the
skin and teeth ?
In recent years I have asserted to my patients that the spray,
in my opinion, is as essential on the toilet table as the tooth
brush. As to the nature of the spray to be used, I think one
must be guided by conditions. If there has already been a ca-
tarrhal condition established, then some remedial agent better be
employed; but if used simply as a prophylactic, then a neutral
cleansing solution would be preferable.
I think this subject is deserving of profound consideration,
when we know that there are establishments in most of our lead-
ing cities that advertise the cure of catarrh for so much a month.
Their methods are simply to insist on the patient coming to
their offices daily, and having their noses thoroughly cleansed.
And they are curing many cases. Would it not be wise to edu-
cate our patients, not only to keep their own noses clean, and
thus cure themselves, but by attending to themselves early
enough avoid the development of that, perhaps most prevalent
of all diseases, catarrh ?
Per contra, however:
Dr. Moffat: I have repeatedly had the experience of patients
coming to me with whom I could not make out what was the
matter until I discovered that they had been washing their
vitality away. The tendency now is to have less and less wash-
ing of the nose with aqueous solutions.
108 Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York.
Whooping Cough.
Dr. Shelton in the " Experience Meeting " on Materia Medica
gave his experience with several drugs in whooping cough.
The characteristic of Coccus cacti is the choking. " The Coccus
cacti is a veritable choke, no niusea, no emesis, bat a sudden
fetching up of the paroxysm."
Corallium rubrum is indicated by " a surging of blood to the
head which produces the purple face so characteristic. * * * I
do not know of any drug that has so violent a paroxysm."
" In regard to Droscra. Its great characteristics are the sore-
ness of the chest, the profound nature of the paroxysm, and with
each inspiration there is a typical crowing inspiratory sound."
They do not choke.
"Another drug is Arnica — the suggestive cry before coughing,
because the child recollects the soreness and pain of the previous
paroxysm, and this marks a striking difference between Arnica
and Drosera. With Droscra they cry all the time, while the
Arnica child cries immediately upon the feeling that the convul-
sion is about to come on."
Asthma.
Dr. Shelton found Moschus of great value in asthma where
" there was intense anxiety, intense fear and a smothering sen-
sation." That remedy completely cured a case.
Ambra grisea is especially valuable where there is a dread of
people and a desire to be alone.
Headache.
Dr. Butler had a patient with a most excruciatingly painful
headache " which she described as if a string was tied in the
head and pulled down." It was looked up and found under
Hcpar stdph. That remedy was given in the 30th and acted as
quickly as a full dose of Opium; patient fell asleep and awoke
with no sigu of pain. Some weeks later the same pain returned
and was again as quickly relieved by same remedy.
Dr. Lover had a case of headache whose only marked symptom
was that it came at the same time of day. Cedron stopped it.
Another case, neuralgia, the pain seemed to go right up to the
teeth, a peculiar cold feeling, and always on the right side.
Staphisagria every time gave complete relief.
" I will simply give at present two salient indications which I
Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York. 109
am constantly verifying — Capsicum for mastoiditis, tenderness or
redness behind the ears; Spigelia for iritis with neuralgic pains
in the eye and radiating in the temple. This remedy has given
brilliant results, surpassing Atropine, Belladonna or Kalmia" —
Dr. Moffat.
Sundry Hints.
Dr. Candee relieved a case of troublesome pains in forearm
from elbow down, including the hands, with Cinnabar 3X.
Dr. Hartman : I am inclined to believe that we do not cure,
because we do not study the Materia Medica. x\bout four
months ago a patient was referred to me who had been having a
cough for about two years ; she was never free from it, and it only
became more aggravated at times. The sensation was as if there
was dust in the throat. It would begin about one o'clock in the
morning and last until half-past five. Then it would come on
again in the afternoon about half -past four and last until night.
Now, she would cough almost incessantly. She was a very
nervous individual and when she was around you would think she
hadn't vitality enough to live the day out. You would not think
she had an ounce of blood in her whole body. With that sensa-
tion of dust in the throat and from one until five-thirty in the
morning and from four-thirty in the afternoon until nine in the
evening this would be aggravated. I kept prescribing, but got
no results. I had to admit that I could not relieve it in any
way. But I made up my mind that I had better read my Materia
Medica. It was not a surgical trouble which was aggravating
this lady ; she had had this for nearly two years before she had
any surgical trouble. She had been prescribed for by the best
homoeopathic physicians without relief. I went at my Materia
Medica one night and spent about two hours and gave her
Ammonium card., and in fifteen minutes from the first dose the
cough stopped. When the cough came on in the morning she
took three doses of the remedy and went to sleep. Since that she
has taken the remedy for three weeks and has had no return of
the cough, from which she was not free for over two years.
Dr. Sheldon related a number of different cases where the well-
known symptom of Cocculus, where the smell of food disgusts,
was the keynote that led to the remedy that cured.
Dr. Proctor told of his own personal experience with retention
of uric acid : " Finally, about the end of the third week, a new
no Homoeopathic Medical Society of New York.
symptom appeared which brought a new remedy to mind ; that
symptom was an intense burning sensation in the skin after
sleeping ; this being so intense that I was absolutely afraid to
sleep for fear of the suffering. The remedy used at this time was
Urticaurens tr., and a quicker, greater relief was never obtained,
I think, from a remedy. After three doses I dropped into a
quiet and refreshing sleep of two or three hours and awoke ab-
solutely free from all symptoms of the skin irritation, something
I had not done for two or three nights. The nerves were im-
mediately quieted and all the symptoms passed rapidly away.
Dr. J. Compton Burnett, of London, says that, ' Urtica is the
greatest, most potent remedy against uric acid that we have,'
and I think that I have excellent reason for believing it."
A Case of Ulceration of the Bowels.
This from a paper by Dr. J. Mumford Keese, of Syracuse:
Case II. I was called in to see another Mrs. G , who was
rapidly growing worse under the care of an old school prac-
tioner who had diagnosed the trouble as ulceration of the
bowels.
Patient had had a discharge of pus and blood from the rectum
for over three months — this appearing only when straining at
stool — and she was sore to the top of the sacrum. Was habitually
constipated.
Previous physician had cauterized, relieved the soreness, but
the discharge from rectum continued, and a gastralgia rapidly
developed, with aphthae on cheeks and gums. She could eat
nothing, because it aggravated the pains which radiated from the
stomach. Had at times very severe pains — sharp and shooting —
shifting from knees to legs, feet, back, sides, arms, etc. Pulse,
108. Temperature, oof. Tongue large, flabby, coated; breath
offensive. Ptyalism marked. She had been vomiting a great
deal, and was troubled by an enormous accumulation of gas,
which was aggravated by drinking cold water. No distention of
stomach or abdomen, and belching was very difficult. She would
become almost choked, and when she did succeed flatus escaped
in enormous quantities, with great force, and a greater noise.
Dysmenorrhcea. Menses like water, and colorless after first
show, which was hardly pink.
Thinking the case well marked, I gave three doses B. & T.'s
Argentum nitticum M. and waited.
Chicago Medical Society. in
Reported in a week — discharge from bowel decreasing; no
more vomiting, and belching much relieved; sharp pains all over
body better. Pains in stomach almost entirely gone. Pulse, 80.
Temperature, 98^. Fourteen days later, no belching, excepting
one day when aggravated by eating fat pork. No more sharp,
shifting pains all over the body. Tongue clean; saliva no longer
profuse; appetite good; bowels regular, but discharge persistent,
although not quite as profuse. Last report, all conditions re-
lieved excepting discharge from the bowel, but that less and
gradually decreasing.
I know that the Argentum was the curative agent. Did the
cauterizing cause the acute condition ?
CHICAGO MEDICAL SOCIETY.
January 20, 1901.
Salt solution in surgical and other cases was the subject of
Prof. Willlard's pap^r at the January meeting. He spoke of its
value in shock, haemorrhage, anaemia (acute). It could be given
in the bowels subcutaneously and intravenous. It should be above
blood warmth. It was contra-indicated in atheroma, inflamma-
tion of kidneys and certain forms of cardiac disease.
Prof. Pratt spoke of it as a valuable adjuvant in puerperal
insanity, and cited a case of interest where each injection of the
salt solution quieted the patient down. They gave a quart
every 4 hours by the rectum.
The writer spoke of it increasing the urine: he had found it
produced perspiration, if given under the breasts. If given b)7
the rectum it increased the urine. He also spoke of its value in
amputation of the thigh.
Prof. Roberts cited a case of chronic nephritis of 12 year's
standing that was helped by the salt solution given subcutane-
ously. Had seen good effect in typhoid fever.
Prof. Evans asked Dr. Pratt if any internal remedy was given
in his insane case.
Prof. Pratt answered that Ferrum phos. has been given. Had
tried certain compound tablets without any effect.
Dr. Kalke spoke of its value in shock if given intravenous.
Struma was the next subject, and was ably discussed by Dr.
Kalke. The chief remedies he mentioned for goitre were Car-
ii2 Chicago Medical Society.
bolic acid, lodum and Natrum phos. This was an able paper and
gave the resume of the pathology and surgical treatment.
Dr. Roberts spoke ol the value of the thyroid extract, and
cited two cases cured and one aggravated, but the second and
third cured. Another case was benefited by electricity.
Prof. Duncan cited a case of poisoning by Iod. of potash given
and rubbed on when the symptoms simulated typhus. It was
cured by the antidote to Iodine, which he found in Jahr was
Hepar. Had many cases come from Rockford cured of them
within a year with Spongia 30. Spo?igia and Thyroid owe their
curative properties to Iodium. Most of the cases recorded have
been cured by Iodium high. The symptoms of the bad effect of
the Thyroid correspond to those of Iodium.
The third paper was a technical one on Splenic Anaemia, by
Dr. Brown (Cook County Hospital), and illustrated by charts
and slides showing blood changes. It was discussed by Dr.
Wilson.
Dr. Gatchell presented a resolution against changing the
meeting of the American Institute from Niagara Falls.
February Meeting, Chicago, February 22, 1901.
The bill of fare which was placed before the members of this
Society for this month was:
'Rheumatic Diathesis," by Prof. Cobb, to be discussed by
Prof. Tocher and Dr. Snyder.
" Ly 'cop odium ," by Prof. Cowperthwaite, to be discussed by
Prof. Gilman.
' l General Practitioner' s Examination of the Nose and Throat, ' '
by Prof. A. L. Smith, to be discussed by Prof. Gatchell.
Cobb was not on hand, but Dr. Cowperthwaite was, and
promptly opened up on Lycopodium, pleading its use when well
prepared in the higher potencies. The action of this remedy and
its evolution by Hahnemann was a triumph for Homoeopathy.
He urged its trial and pointed out its action upon the digestive,
urinary and respiratory tracts, emphasizing its well-known char-
acteristics.
Dr. Gilman's place was taken by Dr. Evans. He thought
that Lye. acted through the sympathetic system and was
chronic from the start. It seems to lower the functional activity
Chicago Medical Society. 113
so that the venous radicals gave off their C02, and this was par-
tially responsible for the flatulence. The motion of the alae nasi
was due to the restriction of respiration, as we find in broncho-
pneumonia.
*Dr. Duncan spoke of its action to evolve urea or uric acid. He
had three remedies for suppressed urine in infants — Aconite
when inflammatory, Hyos. when due to nervousness, and Lye.
when due to the red sand. The sputum of Lye. was his guide in
pulmonic diseases. It resembled batter, thin and yellow.
Dr. Evans wished to add to the remarks of the writer that the
Old School would not accept any drug unless it produced phy-
siological effect. He cited instances where some Old School
physicians had obtained all the effects of Lye. they wanted. He
thought that a drug that had about 50 per cent, of oil was not
inert. He did not think it an antiseptic.
Dr. Cowperthwaite contended that his reference to antiseptic
was in a vein of sarcasm. Had good results from Lye. in malaria,
but not in diphtheria. The headache of Lye. was a dull, stupid
sort of one.
Dr. Hood raised his voice against the attempt to crowd onto
the profession samples of all sorts of compounds. Their hope
was that some nrght be used. He consigned them to the waste
basket.
As to Lye., he had found it of service in diphtheria. In the
choice of remedies for intestinal flatulence he differentiated as
follows: Carbo veg. when in the stomach, Puis, when much
rumblmg, but Lye. when incarcerated. He thought it acted
upon the glands, restoring their activity. He could corroborate
its good effect in malaria when the chill came between 4-6 p. m.
Called in consultation with an Old School to a case where the
chill was 4 to 6, and the pains in the back running down to the
bladder, Lye. 30 cured after giving Sulph. twelve hours.
Dr. Skiles added his testimony as to its good effects in chills
in children. Had one case where child would faint at that time,
and there was red sand in the urine. Gave Lye. 30 and the chill
did not return.
Dr. Hood corroborated this statement. He saw the case also.
On Nasal Examination.
Dr. Smith gave an interesting paper on Nasal Examination.
Advised using a small tongue depressor, as the broad ones caused
H4 Chicago Medical Society.
gagging. In nose-bleed he advised plugging the anterior nares.
Cases of mouth-breathers were often due to adenoids in posterior
nares. These could be felt and scraped out.
Dr. Gatchell's reply was read by Prof. Kippax. He thought
the nose a good index of general diseases. Cited fact that in nasal
canal in phthisis the mucous member was dry, pale and anaemic
It was never catarrhal. Catarrh never developed into phthisis.
Dr. Cobb contended that it was important to remove adenoids,
and the good effect on children was often marvellous. It seemed
to brighten children mentally and physically by allowing a more
perfect oxidation and stimulation where before they were mouth-
breathers and dull.
Dr. Hood cited cases of chorea cured by the removal of
adenoids.
Dr. Smith cited one case where the nasal tissue was dark, and
it was found that it was a Cardiac case and needed Cardiac.
On the Rheumatic Diathesis.
Dr. Cobb reviewed the various ideas of the etiology of rheuma-
tism. He contended for a diathesis here as well as in phthisis.
He thought the uric acid was a symptom and not the causative
factor. A diathesis could be acquired as well as inherited. He
thought inflammatory rheumatism an active infectious disease.
There must be a micro-organism, although not yet located.
Dr. Tocher was called away and Dr. Snyder responded.
He expected to hear a paper on rheumatic diathesis and not one
on the inflammatory type. He thought that there was a diathesis
as we were meeting in certain individuals as the golf shoulder
and arthritis joints. He understood that the diathesis was mani-
fest by a non-inflammatory manifestation.
Dr. Wilson thought that the similarity of rheumatism to
pyaemia and other forms of pathogenic infections would have had
to the conclusions of the essayist.
Dr. Hood was pleased to hear the remarks against the idea
that uric acid was the cause of rheumatism. This the drug
manufacturers were trying to make the whole profession adopt.
In reference to the relation of the tonsils to chorea and rheuma-
tism, he had looked up this question carefully and he could not
find that they were related. In chorea the cause was central, he
thought.
Dr. Duncan had inclined to the acid side of the question, but
"After Surgery Had Done Its Best." 115
theories were of value as they developed facts. He inquired
what tissues were involved in rheumatism and asked for the
modus operandi of the developmeat of a case. He thought there
was a nervous relation or predisposition, then elimination in the
fibrous tissue was arrested. Uric acid or lithcemia was a secondary
condition, or, as the essayist said, a symptom belonging to the
disease. Why was the serous endocardium involved ? How was
it supplied with blood ? How did the post-organic matter in the
fibrous tissue develop rheumatism? He believed in a constitu-
tional tendency to arthritis, he thought.
Dr. Smith cited cases of tonsillitis that were followed by acute
rheumatism. Dr. Cobb had similar cases. ***
"AFTER SURGERY HAD DONE ITS BEST."
ANOTHER SEQUEL.
Editor of Homeopathic Recorder.
Apropos of the history of cases reported in your journal
of January 15, by Dr. T. F. Allen, I give a brief history of a
case of epithelioma. I was, myself, the subject of it, and oppor-
tunities for verification of these statements are ample.
About 1883 a small tumor appeared on my lower lip, increas-
ing slowly during a period of two years; not very sensitive, but
growing more painful as it increased to the size of a chestnut;
pain was darting, intermittent. The mobility of the lip was so
impaired that the saliva exuding from my mouth was very un-
pleasant and annoying.
I consulted a number of physicians. Among the number was
the late and the much lamented Dr. H. T. Hawks, of New York,
he being a staunch friend whose judgment I esteemed. It was
by each pronounced epithelioma, and all advised extirpation.
This was done by a surgeon considered eminent in that branch
of the profession. A v-shaped incision was made, about one
inch at the base, and surfaces coapted in usual way. The
wound did not heal kindly. There was much pain, swelling
and inflammation, the latter not apparently of a phlegmonous
character. No suppuration. I was then practicing medicine
according to teachings received at Albany in the early sixties,
though I had acquired some familiarity with Hughes' Pharmaco-
dynamics. I selected Sepia as the remedy because it seemed
to best correspond with my general symptoms. This was four
n6 Diphtkerinum.
weeks after the operation, the lip yet being swollen and angry.
The pain and swelling subsided in about four weeks, though it
continued sensitive for a short period after, when it gave me no
further trouble until about three years after, when the trouble
returned in about the same process and same symptoms as at
first, attaining the size of a large chestnut. The lip was further
infiltrated; mobility impaired and saliva exuding; would often
waken me at night with shooting pain. I took the Sepia again
with only apparent palliation.
In the spring of 1899 I went to the city one morning with the
expectation of having it again extirpated. The surgeon was out
and I failed to see him. I then went home and resorted to my
Materia Medica. I took the chart method (which I had never
before tried) comparing all the symptoms, local, mental and gen-
eral. I found Phosphorus, of which I had not thought, "leading
the van." I took this 200 C. (why I took it 200 I do not know
unless it was because of the history of some cases reported by
S. Lilienthall).
I took two doses first day with decided > of local symptoms,
later there was > of general symptoms. I took in all five doses
from seven to fourteen days apart. In less than two months all
soreness and painful symptoms had ceased. In three months I
pronounced the lip well. No perceptible enlargement. That
was eleven years ago. and I have never since had any symptom
of the trouble. I still carry the scar from the operation, but can
show a sound lip. Hundreds of my patients and associates can
testify to the truth of this statement. Have seen me wearing
three tissue plasters per month to protect my lip from observa-
tion.
I have a case in process of treatment now — epithelioma of the
nose — a tumor of the size of a half hickory nut. Patient has
been under treatment about a year. Tumor is now like a small,
smooth wart.
This is being cured with Thiija.
Port Chester, N. Y. J. C. White, M. D.
DIPHTHERINUM.
February 6, 1901.
Messrs Boericke & Tafel, New York.
Gentlemen: — Complying with the request you made of me last
year, when you presented me with a bottle of globules of anti-
Opium. 117
diphtheria serum, I have the pleasure to inform you that there is
in this city at present an epidemic of diphtheria, and there was in
the house of a relative of mine a case of the disease on a child
about ten years old, and it was found necessary to inject in him
the serum. A sister of his, a child about six or eight years old,
was sent to my house to save her from contagion. Three days
after she was with me she began to complain of pain in the throat;
and on examining her I found that the throat was very red and
one of the glands showed a white spot that looked to me rather
suspicious, so I decided to give this girl four of your globules,
taking into consideration her short age. I gave her the medicine
in the evening and early the following day I examined her throat
again, and the white spot had disappeared as well as the red
coloration which I noticed the night before, and up to this time
she has been doing well. And as at present there are about fifty
cases of this disease, I believe that this showing is a triumph for
your globules. I have still enough of them and I will not ask
you for more until they run short, as I do not want to lose them.
I remain, Yours truly,
Andres Bony.
Santa Lucia, alta 5.
Santiago, Cuba, W. I.
The " globules " referred to in this letter are medicated pellets
of Diphtherinum 30th.
OPIUM.
By T. F. Allen, M. D., LL.D.
I have been surprised at the frequent need of prescribing
Opium — or rather of the frequent occurrence of symptoms calling
for Opium — in a variety of diseases, since my attention has been
specially directed to the study of this drug, as adapted to nu-
merous febrile conditions. It seems to me quite often called for.
For example:
First: A gentleman had been eating imprudently and was
attacked with fever, without special symptoms, except sleepi-
ness. He wanted to sleep all the time. He had undefined dis-
tress in his stomach, with nausea, with some heat in the head,
and an indefinite frontal headache; but his chief complaint was
that he could not keep awake. His thirst was considerable. He
n8 Opium.
drank frequently, and a considerable amount at a time, but could
scarcely keep awake long enough to tell me his symptoms. His
temperature was about 1030. He received Opium of the 7th di-
lution, pellets in water, of which he took a spoonful every half
hour, and in a few hours appeared to be quite well.
Second: A lady had eaten a hearty meal in the middle of the
day, had driven in the park early in the afternoon, had left her
carriage far uptown, rode across the park to the other side of the
city in an open vehicle, and was very chilly. She made a hur-
ried call on a friend, and took another open car to her home,
where she arrived with much distress in her stomach, associated
with nausea. On arriving at home, the chilliness increased, with
nausea, and she vomited a quantity of bile, after which she lay
down on the bed and went sound asleep, and when I called upon
her early in the evening she had a temperature of 1040, but
complained of chilliness; the nausea had entirely disappeared.
She had no pain, and was not restless, but was sleepy and very
thirsty. I should add, however, that she had a pain in the small
of her back. The chilliness had disappeared, but she fancied
from the aching in her limbs and in her bones generally that
she had taken cold from riding in an open wagon (which cer-
tainly was imprudent, as the weather was quite cold). There
were, however, no symptoms of having taken cold; she was
simply chilly and nauseated. Absolutely no trouble in her
respiratory organs, nor in any other organ, so far as could be
discovered. She was told to go to bed, cover warmly and keep
quiet; she was given Opium 7th, in water, every hour, and in
three or four hours she was apparently well; the fever had en-
tirely disappeared, and along with the fever the piin in the
back, the nausea and the sensations in her bones had also
vanished, and upon calling the next morning said she did not
think she needed a doctor any more, and, apparently, was per-
fectly well. She was cautioned against eating a hearty meal
and afterwards riding in an open carriage. These instances are
frequently duplicated, and call for Opium, for, with quite similar
cases, sometimes of gastric disturbances, sometimes of undefined
bone pains and the feelings of taking cold, sometimes with
nausea and vomiting, but more frequently without any evidences
of positive gastric disturbance, always with sleepiness, usually
with great thirst, — never with restlessness, sometimes with dull
headache, — I have found most prompt results from a few doses
Reaction Against Bacteriology. 119
•of 0pi7im, which I have been in habit of prescribing in the 7th
•dilution, in water, every hour or two, and from which I have
uniformly witnessed prompt and very beneficial results.
REACTION AGAINST BACTERIOLOGY.
At the anual meeting of the British Medical Association, Dr.
•George Wilson, an eminent and able English physician, deliver-
ed a powerful arraignment of bacteriology and serum thera-
peutics.
He pointed out the failure of bacteriology to do anything
practical in the way of diminishing or ameliorating disease.
Pasteur's treatment for hydrophobia is the merest charlatanism.
Koch's tuberculin cure never had more than a temporary
^vogue among irrational enthusiasts. Even much-talked of anti-
toxin is no longer seriously regarded, except by those who have
some axe to grind in pushing it. As for tetanus serum, pneu-
tnococcic, puerperal and yellow fever serums, they were such
unmitigated failures that few had courage to advocate their
•cause.
Bacteriology contains the fatal flaw of ecclesiastical science.
It is based upon assertion, bolstered up by authority. It is de-
fended and upheld by partisans, who make up their minds about
its claims first and investigate afterwards. But like all half-
truths, it has come to judgment at the hands of impartial
•observers.
Seeing to what extremes, and into what errors, a rash belief
in bacteriology was likely to carry the profession, a number of
well-balanced, unbiased minds have set themselves to see what
there really is in the so-called science.
These latter-day investigators have disposed in short order of
"bacteriology's claim to be considered the cause of disease.
Where a specific germ was claimed to cause a specific lesion,
independent investigators, working separately, have demon-
strated, over and over, the presence of other germs at times, and
the absence of the specific germ, in diseases clinically identical,
at others. It is becoming more and more clear that what was
laid down as a law in bacterial pathology was simply a hasty
generalization from a few instances by men in whom judgment
is at the mercy of an ardent temperament.
1 20 Insomnia.
Bacteriology will slowly, but surely and steadily, become
generally discredited. And of a necessity serum therapeutics
must go with it. Reaction is well under way. The pendulum
will swing back. We shall review our work during the past
half century, compare it with that of our fathers, try to cull the
best from both, and reorganize out practice in the light of
common sense and experience. There is nothing like a foolish
departure for stimulating common-sense and bringing out all the
prudence and conservatism in the back-ground. — Clinical Re-
porter.
INSOMNIA.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Leipzig Pop. Z.
f. Horn.
There can be no specific for insomnia if for no other reason
than this, that insomnia is mostly only a symptom, a symptom of
a primary fundamental ailment, which may have very different
causes. The insomnia in heart disease must be adjudged and
treated in a manner differing from the insomnia of a fever-patient
or of a nervous patient. One person can not go to sleep because
there is too little blood in the head, another, because there is too
much. All this will have to be weighed and considered. There
will always be remedies more or less reliable in certain categories
of insomnia. It will always be best to take our refuge to such
soporifics as are — harmless. For the injurious nature of many-
soporifics is demonstrated. There are at this day not only slaves
to Morphine, but also slaves to Bromine and to Chloral. Mor-
phine is hurtful from the very beginning in the insomnia of
cardiac patients as well as in the insomnia of fever patients.
We shall here treat only of the harmless remedies which never-
theless are often successful. From the therapeutic treasury of
Homoeopathy we would adduce Ignatia in the insomnia from
grief, from continuous vexation, from suppressed indignation and
habitual megrim, as well as from hysteria. Coffea in general ex-
citement, throwing oneself around, and feeling as if too strong or
too much coffee had been partaken of. If the latter is actually
the case, Nux vomica should be chosen.
A very effective remedy for insomnia is also Zincum, which
acts on the brain as Ignatia does on the spinal marrow ; especially
Insomnia, 1 2 1
Zincum valerianicum , which I give either in the first centesimal
trituration, or freshly made, one decigram triturated with ten
decigrams of sugar of milk. Of this mixture I gave two or three
doses of the size of a bean. It will also drive away toothache
resting on nervousness and attended with insomnia. This state,
indeed, is more or less acute, but Zincum is also suitable in sub-
acute and chronic insomnia with excitation of the nerves. It is
well-known that Valerian alone will also quiet the nerves and in-
duce sleep, and a sleep that is much more blessed than sleep in-
duced by Morphine. Valerian tea, warm or frequently more
effective when cold, or used in doses of 10-15 drops, is a
domestic soporific. Pulsatilla and Sepia quiet the impetuous
heart beats. Kali carbonicum is even more effective in this direc-
tion, and cannot be too warmly recommended where insomnia is
really the chief symptoms.
Where Sepia is ineffective Kali carb may help, and in-
versely. A wineglass half full of water may receive four drops
of Kali carb. (or Sepia) 12 D,, and when going to bed take a
teaspoonful, and, if needed, another teaspoonful after two hours.
Pulsatilla is indicated in persons whose stomach is affected, who
are troubled with flatulence, are chilly, may have hysterical
tendencies, of pale habit, and showing an effeminate and soft-
hearted temperament. Of Pulsatilla patients, if of the female sex,
we would say that they would not furnish a Maid of Orleans.
To complete the list we must yet mention Aconite, which is
indispensible in rushes of the blood, in nervous palpitations, in
restlessness and in tendency to get frightened; also where the
body is prone to neuralgia and aggravations appear at every
change of weather, during thunderstorms, east winds, raw
weather, and especially before a snowfall.
We would call attention in addition to one peculiar kind of in-
somnia and its prompt alleviation, namely, one that is caused by
great sensitiveness to external noises. Thus there is an acoustic
hypersesthesia, which is also caused by the abnormal functions of
the nervous system.
Dr. Otto Felsing (in his Buck fuer Alle, 1899, No. 13) in an
interesting article on " How to Guard Against Noises," gives a
simple, innocuous method which has proved itself useful in
practice, and which protects from insomnia due to this cause.
White wax for sewing, without any adulteration from stearine
or other hard substances, is taken, of the size of a bean, kneaded
122 Homoeopathic Cure of Hydronephrosis.
between the fingers to soften it and extended into a thin wafer.
Into this is pressed about as much raw cotton as would equal a
down feather; this is imbedded into the plaster of wax and rolled
into a ball about the size of a filbert. Around this is laid an-
other thin film of raw cotton and by kneading it between the
fingers it is pressed into the ball. The surface eventually ought
not to have a woolly appearance, but ought merely to have slight
downy hairs over it. Any one will after one or two experi-
ments soon get the right size of ball for each ear, the auditory
passages being of varying dimensions with most men.
This is Dr. Felsing's method; but we would recommend a
certain care in plugging the ears with this mass In taking out
the mass nothing should remain in the ear, else ear-wax would
form on it, causing it to form'a plug that might injure the hearing.
Man}' will, no doubt, thank the author for his idea. There is
little trouble, but a great reward.
HOMCEOPATHIC CURE OF HYDRONEPHROSIS.
Dropsy of the Kidneys.
By Dr. E. Eckert, of Breslau.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Leipz. Pop. Z. f. Hom.y
January, 1901.
Homoeopathic practice daily offers new proofs that it is pos-
sible, through well-selected homoeopathic remedies, to cure dis-
eases which, according to the opinion of the great number of
physicians, call for the knife of the surgeon. The works of men
like Bojanus and Schlegel, who are specially devoted to the
homoeopathic treatment of so-called surgical ailments, ought to
encourage every homoeopath to further develop this debatable
ground between surgery and internal medicine, and to bring
more and more of this debatable region into the possession of in-
ternal medicine to the great benefit of their patients.
The example of the cure of renal abscess given here is a
drastic example. It is of especial interest, because the same
remedy which produced a cure at the same time cured a severe
ailment of the stomach from which the patient had suffered for
years and for which she had been operated twice before. This
is an additional proof that a homoeopathic remedy which covers
the totality of the symptoms of a patient is able also to fully and
Homoeopathic Cure oj Hydronephrosis. 123
entirely heal the person, no matter how many names of diseases
the allopathic school may use in its diagnosis of the case.
I may premise that hydronephrosis is a dilation of the pelvis
and of the origin of the ureters. It is caused by an accumula-
tion of urine in consequence of an impediment to its discharge.
Such an impediment may arise from the presence of renal calculi,
or through strictures, contractions or cicatrices in the ureter, or
compression of the same due to swelling or to inflammatory pro-
cesses in the same. If hydronephrosis is long continued, the
renal substance wastes away from atrophy due to pressure. This
may interfere with the excretion of the urea, causing ursemia.
The hydronephrosis may also burst and a fatal peritonitis may
follow. To escape these dangers, modern surgery usually opens
the abdominal cavity, exposes the abscess, splits it open and, after
emptying it, causes it to become inactive. On account of the
difficulty of access to the kidneys, deep in the abdominal cavity
at either side of the spinal column, this operation is one of the
most bloody and difficult in modern surgery.
In the beginning of last April I was called to Miss E. S., from
Breslau, aged 17 years. She was a sad sight. Pale, and almost
a mere skeleton, tormented night and day by the most furious
pains, she lay there. The father told me that she had been twice
operated upon in the abdomen; that the surgeon considered her
too weak to stand another large operation which was necessary
for her cure, as she was suffering from hydronephrosis. The
allopathic doctor who had last treated her had declared that he
could not do anything any more, except to inject morphine. As
he had not the time to visit the patient as often in the day as
would be required, he had handed the father an injector and in-
structed him how to inject the morphine. The pains were now
so violent that the injections had to be made every 2^2-3 hours.
But as the father saw no improvement from this treatment, he
had sought refuge in Homoeopathy, which had been recommended
to him by another party. In my examination I found a cicatrice
extending from the xiphoid cartilage to the navel, evidently due
to one of the two operations. The whole of the abdomen was
much distended and moderately painful to the touch. On the
right side I found a plainly fluctuating swelling, elastically dis-
tended, extending almost to the median line in front. This gave
a dull sound on percussion and was pretty sensitive to the touch.
The swelling was plainly connected with the kidney, as its
124 Homoeopathic Cure of Hydronephrosis.
position and relation evidently excluded any relation to the liver
and to the abdominal organs. There was retention of the urine,
i. <?. , only a little concentrated urine was discharged at long in
tervals. When the least bit of nutriment was taken, whether
this was solid or liquid, violent pains would at once develop in
the pit of the stomach; at the same time there was a sensation of
fulness, followed immediately by raging pains in the swelling
just described. There was no evidence of any unconfined fluid
in the abdomen. There could be no doubt as to the diagnosis of
hydronephrosis, since the father told me that the physician had
at his last visit inserted his needle-pointed injector into the
swelling and had drawn out clear urine.
I first prescribed Apis, expecting that this remedy would
stimulate the activity of the healthy left kidney as well as that
of the right; for we know from experience that in such cases the
healthy kidney vicariously takes up the function of its diseased
partner. I was not willing to take any other measures before
communicating with the surgeon, so as to find out the cause and
end of the prior operations. The lay statements of her relatives
were, of course, insufficient for the purpose. The surgeon, who
is considered a very skillful operator, immediately wrote to me
that two years ago he had operated on Miss E. S. on account of
a cicatrice due to an ulcer of the stomach, and that he had at
that time severed a number of attachments between the stomach
and the peritonaeum, and had allowed some foetid pus to dis-
charge itself. The patient has recovered slowly from this oper-
ation. Haifa year ago another operation had become necessary,
which consisted in forming a gastro entero anastomosis, i. e., a
connection between the stomach and the small intestines with
the exception of the duodenum, because the food could no more
pass from the stomach in the ordinary way owing to the con-
striction of the pylorus due to a constriction from a cicatrice. A
short time since a swelling appeared on the right side of the
body, which he had diagnosed as hydronephrosis, and from
which he had drawn urine through a puncture.
A change in the state of the patient appeared in the days fol-
lowing, in that the pains in the pit of the stomach became ever
more unbearable. Vomiting also had appeared, and once the
matter vomited up was said to look like raw meat; but, to my
regret, I did not get to see this substance. The epigastrium was
much distended and sensitive to the touch. There was a sensa-
Homoeopathic Cure of Hydronephrosis. 125
tion as of a lump in the stomach. The pains were gnawing, and
they radiated in every direction, but most strongly toward the
spine. All nourishment when taken increased the pains. The
pressure of the hand upon the stomach brought a transient relief.
The pains in the kidneys continued unchanged, and there was
no diminution perceptible in the swelling. The urine dis-
charged daily had somewhat increased in quantity. The symp-
toms, in the stomach especially, caused me to give Argentum
nitricum. I gave this remedy in alternation with Apis. From
the day on which the patient received Argentum nitric. — it was
the 14th of April last — a remarkable change began in the state
of the patient. In a few days the raging pains in the stomach,
the nausea and vomiting ceased. At the same time the patient
told me, all radiant with joy, that for the first time since a long
period she had been able to sleep without taking morphine. But
what surprised me most on examining her was an evident diminu-
tion in the swelling on the right side of the abdomen, which also
was no more sensitive to the touch as it had been. The daily
quantity of urine discharged had also increased somewhat at this
time. This gradual alleviation continued for several days, after
which the swelling became again more sensitive. I now deter-
mined, as the first i nprovement had set in after beginning the
use of Argentum nitric, to omit Apis, and I continued Argent.
nitric, alone. The effect was striking. In the following days
there was a copious discharge of urine and a rapid diminution of
the renal swelling. The stomach symptoms had not returned.
The appetite and the general condition of the patient visibly
improved, especially since I gave Argentnm nitric, more raiely,
interjecting constitutional remedies, such as Calcarea phosphorica
and Ferrum h<z mat., Hensel, so that the patient, in the middle
of Ma}7, could leave the bed to which she had so long been tied.
The swelling had entirely disappeared, the micturition was nor-
mal, the appetite and the sleep were good, the patient was free
from all pains. After her strength had improved during the
summer through the use of the constitutional remedies, I pre-
scribed a visit to one of the Silesian Springs for her full restora-
tion.
The effect of Argentum nitric, in this case was most striking.
I am convinced that this effect would have been even more brilliant
if I had given this remedy first and had given it alone. There is
no doubt that the cure was delayed for a time through the Apis
126 Cases From Practice.
given in alternation. In common practice it has no doubt
proved useful to give remedies in alternation, and thus to get
along with two crutches (metaphorically speaking) more quickly
than with one. But we must never forget that one remedy
alone, or rather the remedy rightly selected will most quickly and
most strikingly enable us to reach the goal. This was again
proved in the plainest manner in this case.
CASES FROM PRACTICE.
By Dr. Schier, of Mayence.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn., January, 1901.
I shall now give some cases of diseases which though of fre-
quent occurrence are at times not recognized even by experi-
enced physicians, and are, therefore, at times incorrectly treated,
because the symptoms caused are at times but slightly character-
istic.
Tape Worm.
I. Philip W., aged 62 years, from B., near Mayence, ap-
peared in my office on September 17, 1899. He has for several
years been suffering from an undefined colicky pain, now here,
now there. One day there is a pressure in the pit of the stomach,
another day he complains of a pinching in the splenic region,
then again a pain digging round about the navel. Not always,
but frequently, the pains are most severe early in the morning
before he has taken any nourishment. The tongue, even to the
tip, is coated white, there is eructation, also frequently nausea;
the appetite is mostly good, sometimes even ravenous; the stool
is usually regular, inclining more to constipation than to diar-
rhoea. A great excitability and irritability seems striking, even
to the patient, who says, that on the whole his life is very regu-
lar. He is not able to give any cause for the disease. Several
physicians have treated him in vain for some time, diagnosing
the case as chronic catarrh of the stomach and bowels.
He received first of all Nux vomica 4 D., six drops in a spoon-
ful of water every three hours. In the evening the patient was
directed to make a packing, after Priesnitz's method, around his
abdomen. This might remain, well covered, all night long, and
he is to give particular attention to his stool.
Cases From Practice. 127
On September 26th the patient appeared in my office for the
second time, saying that " the remedy did not help him at all;"
still once he saw several pieces like noodles in his stool, and he
brought with him a piece about two inches in length.
Whoever has studied the prospectuses of tape-worm killers
will find that they are so cunningly devised that nine out of ten
readers will be led to believe that they have tape-worms.
Since few people are entirely well, they will be very apt to have
some of the rather vague and general symptoms described by the
venders of these patent medicines. Still even such prospectuses
have their use, as they call the attention of some persons really
afflicted with tape-worms to their condition. The cloven foot,.
however, appears elsewhere ; for such specialists are apt to
charge five times as much for their remedies as the patient would
have to pay in any reliable drug store. Since these advertise-
ments lay but little stress on the finding of tape- worms in the
stool, which alone makes the diagnosis sure, many readers use
these patent remedies without being sick ; which is the more
reprehensible, as the treatment is by no means harmless in many
cases.
When I examined the piece brought by my patient, it showed
the presence of t&nia saginata, which had, no doubt, been caused
by eating raw, i. e., imperfectly cooked beef.
To disgust this uninvited guest, the patient was advised to eat
a hering and a quantity of cooked cranberries in the evening,
then in the morning, one hour after taking the tape- worm
remedy — six capsules of etheric extract of fern root and some
capsules of castor oil — the worm, several yards in length, was
discharged together with its head, freeing the patient at one
stroke from all his ailments.
Inflammation of the Kidneys.
II. Francis B., of Mayence, five years old, was brought to me
for examination while I was visiting his older brother, who was
sick of acute inflammation of the throat. The little boy looked
pale and complained of weariness, his appetite was good, he had
no pains ; the tonsils were covered but hardly reddened ; there
was nothing abnormal in the lungs, nor in the stools ; the urine
had not been noticed. As a whole, the boy made the impression
of being anseminic and scrofulous. This state had lasted about,
four weeks, but I could not find out anything as to the cause.
128 Cases Prom Practice.
A certain bloated state of the face was a prominent and sus-
picious symptom, especially noticeable in the lower eyelids
which seemed swollen. Before making any prescription I had
a sample of the urine, which looked normal, sent to my house ;
an examination of this urine showed considerable albumen.
Only now I found out that the boy had had a " nettle-rash "
four or five weeks before, but this had seemed so slight that no
doctor had been consulted.
Several times during the last summer I had to treat several
quite similar cases, and it is quite surprising to note the appar-
ently harmless and still malignant nature of such cases of scar-
latina. For it was now manifest that I had before me a case of
inflammation of the kidneys, a sequel of scarlet- fever, and only
a most exact investigation and consideration of all the circum-
stances had enabled me to diagnose the case correctly. The cor-
rectness of the diagnosis was shown by the desquamation which
developed a few days later.
The treatment of the case had no difficulty for a homoeopathic
practitioner. It consisted in Apis 3 D. with Hepar sidph. 4 D.,
alternating every four hours with Chin, arsen. 4 D. This was
accompanied with half baths every day at a temperature of 990
and of 15 minutes duration, followed by an application of hot
linseed poultices to the renal region while the patient kept his
bed. The diet consisted chiefly of milk and of soups made of
rice, farina, barley, oatmeal and sage. In consequence all the
morbid symptoms disappeared within six weeks.
Renal Colic.
III. Mrs. A. W., in Mayence, 38 years of age, had been
treated for several years by her family physician for "catarrh
and cramps of the stomach." As she received no lasting relief
she called at my office on the third of last September. The
patient is of vigorous constitution, rather inclined to stoutness
than to leanness; she looks somewhat bloated. Her appetite is
usually good, stools are regular and copious. After eating she
has a disagreeable sensation of fulness so that she can scarcely
draw her breath; eructation with nausea, pressure in the gastric
region, discomfort and "a gone feeling" are almost constant.
The tongue is but little coated, heart and lungs are sound; all
other functions are also normal.
At times, i. e.} every 3-5 weeks, vomiting sets in of wTatery or
Cases From Practice. 129
of bilious substances, but this brings no relief; the choice of
food has no effect on these spells.
Cardials mariamis 3 D., six drops in a spoonful of water every
two hours, did not produce the relief hoped for; on the con-
trary, the patient sent for me in a hurry on September 6th, in the
evening, stating that she had an attack of cramps in the stomach
more violent than former ones, and she ascribed it to the medi-
cine. At my arrival I found the patient sitting in her bed,
her face distorted from pain; she could not lie down, as she
could not then get breath. She knows of no error in diet on her
part, but had vomited a good quantity of bile just before my
coming. The pain is of a piercing character, radiating from the
heart even to the back and extending itself in the back even to
the tip of the right shoulder blade. Pressure neither increases
nor diminishes the pain; pleurisy might have been indicated by
the dyspnoea, but there is no other indication for it, neither is
there any cough or jaundice.
The symptoms of pain in the tip of the right shoulder blade,
which an allopathic physician might have scarcely noticed, as
well as the suddenness with which the attack set in, led me to
suspect that the ailment might be something very different
from cramps of the stomach. I prescribed Atropinum sulph. 3 D.,
five drops every half hour, but not more than five times in suc-
cession.
At my visit next morning the patient informed me that the
pain had ceased suddenly and much sooner than usual, i. <?.,
after about two hours, and that she now felt quite well with the
exception of a certain weariness.
The morning-stool, which luckily was still at hand, was then
closely examined according to my discretion, and there was
actually found an egg-shaped, greyish-brown biliary calculus of
about the size of a thick bean. It is more than probable that
also her former attacks had been renal colic; but the symptoms
were too little typical to cause me to find fault with her physician
on account of incorrect diagnosis and treatment. Especially un-
usual was the lack of jaundice, which can only be explained by
the supposition that the incarceration of the calculus had taken
place in the exit of the gall bladder, the ductus cysticus, while
the calculus was afterwards quickly conducted onward through
the ductus choledochus.
Still this atypic course is by no means rare while renal colic,
130 Tuber culinum and Diptherinum.
renal inflammation and tape-worms belong to those ailments in
which faulty diagnoses are most frequently made.
(With regard to the absence of icteric symptoms which, as the
author states, are by no means so very rare, we would quote a re-
mark of Prof. Struempell : " We should make it a rule in all
violent pains in the region of the stomach and of the liver which
set in suddenly, especially in women during the middle period of
life, to consider the possibility of renal calculi. Kx\y slight
symptoms of jaundice noticed at the same time will make the
diagnosis more probable, while the absence of jaundice by no
means makes against the presence of such calculi. Ninety per
cent, ofpatieiits having renal calculi are in the beginning free from
iaiindice. Among these ninety per cent, surely scarcely one-half
in the beginning of their ailment have typical, i. •<?., severe at-
tacks of renal colic ; most of them suffer from so-called
cardialgias, others only from occasional discomfort, lack of ap-
petite, vomiting after vexation, etc. During a continuance of
the ailment the per cent, of cases showing jaundice increases."
Editor of Lip z. P. Z.f. Horn.
TUBERCULINUM AND DIPTHERINUM.
By Dr. A. Nebel, Montreax.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
January 31, 1901
Diphtherinum.
We have not very many reports in our journals as to the
effects of Tuberculi?ium in high potencies, so I will add a few to
our store.
I. Mr. R. L., an apprentice in a silk factory in Geneva, was
seized with diphtheritis. Eight days after being seized he
received his first injection of the serum. There appeared red
spots on his body, "these spots also settled in the joints, so that he
could not move for several days. ' ' There remained as an after-effect
a paralysis'of the muscles of the palate, and a considerable weak-
ness in the lower extremities. The patient came to Montreux
to be treated by Dr. Mercanton. The paralysis of the fauces grad-
ually diminished, but a feverish state developed, attended with
an acceleration in the action of the heart, for which nothing was
prescribed but ice. As the patient continually grew weaker and
thinner, he came to me to be treated.
Tuber culinum and Diptliervium. 131
The patient is a lean, young man with a hectical flush on the
cheeks, the pupils much dilated, a strawberry tongue, lips deep
red, dry and chapped. The thorax had much fallen off, making
the ribs project. The left lung showed dullness, extending to
the second rib; the right lung showed subclavian dullness, and
there were extended moist, rattling noises. There was palpita-
tion of the heart. The pulse was 150. Much thirst, hardly any
appetite, little sleep, weakness, resembling paralysis, in the
lower extremities.
My prescription was: Tuberculi?i 1000 C. and Phosphorus 200 C.
The rattling and the sleep improved; the dullness in the lungs
showed but little change; the cough had much diminished, and
there was less fever. But as the pulse had not receded and the
weakness continued I gave him Diphtherinum . On the day on
which he took this medicine the pulse fell to 104.; palpitation dimin-
ished. Increase of appetite; the chest is beginning to fill out
again.
Prescription: Sulphur 1000 C, Calcarea carb. 8 D., on which
the improvement continued. There appeared a rash on his face
which resembled acne. I prescribed Diphtheriniun 50 C, Tuber-
culin 1000 C, one dose of each at an interval of eight days.
Pulse So; the cough had almost disappeared in the evening.
Some thirst.
Prescription: Psorine 30 C, Sulphur 1000 C, one dose of each
within eight days. Mr. L. feels quite well. The muscles of the
thorax are well developed, the cough is gone, pulse 65. The
dullness is lessened; there is only a slight rattling during violent
coughing.
Mr. L,. was sent to the Riviera with Hydrastis canad. 2 C. and
Calcarea jod. 8 D. To show the improvement in numbers I give
the weight of the patient: November 20th he weighed 51.60
kilogrammes; November 26th, 51.80; December 3d, 53 00; De-
cember 10th, 53.80; December 17th, 54.20; December 24th, 54.40
and December 31st, 55.80 kilogrammes; thus in five weeks and
a half an increase of about eight pounds and a quarter was
obtained.
Epicrisis. I gave Diphtherinum owing to my belief that the
tuberculosis in question was still influenced by the after-effects
of diphtheritis and the toxic effects of the serum, and because the
very slight increase of only 200 grammes a week seemed to me
to point in that direction. In addition to this, a few days
132 Tuber culinum and Dipthervmm.
before, on proving on myself the third trituration of Diphther-
inum, I had noted the following symptom: On sitting down on a
chair a weakness resembling paralysis in the small of the back and
in the lower extremities, so that I had to really drag myself to the
table. Much acceleration in the action of the heart and of the pulse
at night, after taking some of the third decimal trituration at 7
p. M.
Hydrastis was given in accordance with Burnett's statement:
" It seems to actually fatten up tuberculous patients." With per-
sons who are at all inclined to be florid I do not give the
original tincture as, Burnett does, but dilutions, since Hydrastis
may cause haemorrhage.
II. Miss V., after taking a bath, suffered from troubles in the
larynx and the lungs. In the last five weeks she has lost eleven
pounds. Anaemia, emaciation, especially of the chest and mam-
mae. Cough, expectoration, thirst, loss of appetite and constipa-
tion. Oppression on the chest. Infiltration of both tips of lungs.
Very much depressed and despondent. The patient received in
succession:
Tuberculin 1,000 C, Phosphorus 200 C, Pulsatilla 30 C, Cal-
carea carb. 100C, Thuja iooC, and Sepia 100 C. In conse-
quence, first of all her mental state became light, expectoration
and cough disappeared, she breathes easily, and appetite and
stool are normal. A local examination showed diminution of
dulness, and fullness of the chest and mammae.
The improvement showed itself also in the following weights:
November 10th, 1900, 52.10 kilogrammes; November 19th,
53.00; November 26th, 54.40; December 3d, 55 60; December
10th, 56.00; December 17th, 56.90; December 29th, 57.60, an in-
crease of over 12 lbs. The patient is still under treatment.
Thuja had in this case a favorable effect: a severe leucorrhoea
appeared, which soon diminished again, showing that the dis-
ease had found a vent in the mucous membrane. Thuja was
used owing to the anamnesis, which showed that the patient after
vaccination had suffered from tetters, which had been driven
back with- ointments, since which time little nodules resembling
acne have appeared on the forehead during menstruation; also,
soft warts on neck and chest.
While in these cases the effects of Tuberculinum are not so
manifest to the uninitiated, owing to the subsequent use of the
other remedies, the case which I shall give now shows the pure
ff ect of Tuberculiyium .
luberculiniim and Diptherinum. 133
III. A boy of 13 years, from Vevey, was sick from angina
diphtheritica. This was accompanied with fearful headache, ex-
tending from the neck to vertex, with swellings in the back of the
neck and the occiput. It wis ^U)3)^ed thit there was an affe
tion of the middle ear and of the cellulae mastoidese. Seven
weeks had passed without any appreciable improvement. On
the paracentesis of the tympanum there was discharged some
pus for two days.
I found him with a face somewhat bloated, with his tongue
coated white at the root. There was strawberry tongue, e-
maciation of the chest; the processus mastoidei o?i both sides were
not sensitive even to strong pressure. Swelling of the occiput and
neck down to the fifth cervical vertebra. The head is held fixed
sideways toward the middle of the clavicle. If the boy wants to
move his head he has to seize it with both hands and turn it slowly
with painful distortion of the muscles of the face, until it reaches the
position desired. Even the slightest pressure on the first, second
and third cervical vertebrae is very painful. The skin over
these vertebrae is very tense and somewhat reddened. The peri-
osteum seems swollen. My diagnosis pointed to tuberculosis
of the atlas and of the second and third vertebrae, consequent on
angina diphtheritica. The lymphatic glands of the neck were
enlarged.
Treatment: The boy who had, hitherto, been lying on high
pillows was laid down as flat as possible. Tuberculin 1000 C,
five grains, during the day. I had made out with my colleague
P. that I would call again in three weeks. In the meantime
the patient was to take China eight days after the Tuberculin, —
to counteract the anaemia which had set in owing to violent
bleedingof the gums and the nose. But as my colleague ceased
his visits, the China was not used. I saw the boy again after
about five weeks. I was told that two days after taking the
Tuberculin, he could move his head more freely, the swelling of
the neck had diminished, his appetite had returned, and a short
time afterwards he was able to get up and to run about.
When I examined the boy the swelli?ig had altogether disap-
peared, and the vertebrae showed pain on pressure ; he looked
much better, his appetite was excellent, and the fullness of the
chest was manifest and surprising. The lymphatic glands of the
neck were somewhat smaller ; the haemorrhages had returned the
first day after taking the Tuberculinum, but had then ceased
134 Tuber culinum and Diptherinmn.
altogether. The boy then recieved China [3 C. for eight days,
two doses of Calcarea card. 100 C. at intervals of eight days, to
fully eradicate the scrofulosis.
This case manifests clearly the rapid and long-continued
action of Tuberadinum.
IV. The next case had a slower course: Madame A., in Veney,
had been coughing constantly for twenty years. She had form-
erly been anaemic. For the last half year her strength has been
decreasing, and she has become emaciated, ^and mentally she is
much depressed. Pains in the chest, oppression of the chest and
difficulty in swallowing. There is dullness in the tips of the
lungs; there is a slight moist rattling, more^distinct and strong
when coughing. There is a decided smell of the'laxillcz, straw-
berry tongue, lack of appetite, distaste to milk, constipation, bad
sleep. Since eight weeks there has been a swelling of the tibia
three fingers' breadth below the knee joint. The family physi-
cian had made an incision. The part of the tibia affected is as
large as the palm of the hand; the skin over it is tense and hot.
The periosteum is thickened, the tibia is spongy, uneven; press-
ure on the part affected is very painful. On pressure, the fistula
discharges pus, mingled with dark blood. It is almost impos-
sible for her to walk.
Prescription: Rest in bed, the diet more vegetarian, Tuber-
culin 1000 C. After eight days there was a measurable improve-
ment in the mental state. Sleep, cough and oppression, as well
as the palpitation, improved. The skin on the tibia is less tense,
the swelling somewhat diminished in extent. The secretion has
increased, pressure is less painful. Silicea 100 C, one dose.
Eight days later the cough is quite gone, the patient breathes
easily, has appetite and is more vigorous and robust. The
swelling is now of the size of a silver dollar; the swelling of the
periosteum has diminished. The bones can now be plainly dis-
tinguished through the skin. Tuberculin rooo C. and Silicea
100 C. are prescribed, one dose for three weeks each.
After the lapse of this time the spot affected has the size of a
quarter of a dollar, the secretion is scant; pressure causes it to
discharge some white, cheese-like detritus, no blood being mixed
with it; the fistula shows a clean granulation. The woman
looks far fresher, her mind is bright, her sleep excellent, so also
her appetite, and the stool is normal. The bone of the tibia on
the spot affected is only sensitive when strong pressure is ap-
Tuberculinum and Diptherinum. 135
plied; the patient can work all the afternoon in the kitchen. The
local lesion will evidently soon be quite healed up.
V. Now let us descend for a moment into a lower region:
Osteomyelitis tuberculosa of the first phalanx of the thumb,
which has lasted for four years. Ulcera cutis tuberculosa lym-
phangitis tuberculosa since two years. The subject was a young
man whom I had first seen three years before, and on whom I
had made my earliest homoeopathic experiments. He had re-
ceived from me Silicea 4 D. and 6 D. for about a month, and as
he saw no result he stayed away. The affection of the bone
caused him but little pain and hardly hindered him in his work.
But the ulcers were very troublesome on account of their profuse
secretion. From the wrist up to the middle of the clavicle there
were about ten deep ulcers, in size up to a half dollar, with a fatty
ground. They extended from the pectoral muscle to the ribs
and down the anal fascia. The metacarpo-phalangeal joint of
the thumb was very spongy and enlarged, as were also the
phalangeal bones.
There was eczema on the dorsum of the hand toward the
index finger.
Prescription: Tuberculinum 30 C. The secretion increased
and in eight days the ulcers (after running for two days) were
all cleaned out, just as if a salve of Arge?itum nitricum had been
applied. Prescription: Tuberculi?i 100 C. The ulcers showed
everywhere healthy granulation and a tendency to be covered
with a membrane. In three weeks the ulcers had all formed
•cicatrices, but were still very red. The swelling of the bones
and joints had at first increased largely, the secretion of the
fistula was augmented considerably, but after that it diminished
by a full one-third.
I suggested to the patient to have the operation of seques-
trotomy performed, which was accordingly done. The cicatrices
have grown much paler. The moist eczema on the back of the
liand proved to be lupus; diaphanoscopy showed about four
nodules. Gradually it diminished and became drier. After the
necrotomy it increased somewhat, probably in consequence of the
Iodoform that had been used. The quick healing of the ulcers
was most wonderful; still my colleague who performed the
sequestrotomy was not inclined to acknowledge the action of the
Tuberculinum, and since the patient had bathed his ulcers at the
same time in water from the Krenznach Springs, he ascribed the
136 Book Notices.
cure altogether to the latter. It was, however, curious that this
same water had been applied for two years without producing a
cure, but now it would seem to have made a turn and to have
healed the case in two weeks !
The effect of an appropriate dose of Tuberculinum is always
rapid. First of all it shows its effect upon the mental symp-
toms: the nervous person is calmed, the despondent person be-
comes more cheerful and bright. The increase of the bodily
weight is striking. If it does not take place within fourteen
days then the dose was too low. One of the most manifest effects
is the filling up of the chest and of the mammae. By watching-
the bodily weight we can get reliable direction as to the repeti-
tion of the dose.
BOOK NOTICES.
Diseases of the Heart. By A. L. Blackwood, M. D., Professor
of General Medicine in Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago,
etc. 261 pages. Cloth. $2.00; by mail, $2.12. Halsey
Bros. Co., Chicago. 1901.
A book divided into thirty-three chapters covering all the
heart diseases and peculiarly rich in therapeutics ; also consider-
able attention is devoted to general treatment.
The book ought to have a good sale.
A Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. By J. C.
Fahnestock, A. M., M. D. 264 pages. Cloth, $1.50. Pub-
lished by the author. 1901.
A very excellent condensed Homoeopathic Materia Medica
with 264 printed pages, and an equal number, the right hand
page, left blank for notes, the same as was Hawke's work.
Under the heading of each section, which is of course the name
of a remedy, the pronunciation of the name of the remedy is
given. The book is pocket size.
International Homoeopathic Directory. 1901. London Ho-
moeopathic Publishing Company.
This excellent directory of homoeopathic physicians, in all
Book Notices. 137
countries outside of the United States, for 1901 comes promptly
to hand, and much enlarged over the previous issue. It is a
very useful little book, especially to travellers who may need
homoeopathic treatment. The one criticism we have to make is
in the list of "homoeopathic works published in 1901." This,
in the first place, is very incomplete ; next it has among new
books some old stagers from plates that have not been changed
for years, save for date on title page ; and, lastly, some books
that are not homoeopathic. One of these latter is the production
of a diploma mill "doctor," who, when last heard from, was
advertising in spiritist newspapers to "cure" all diseases by
" occult" methods. It is not right to catalogue books of this
nature with the works of reputable physicians.
Electro-Therapeutics and X-Rays. By Dr. Charles Sinclair
Elliot.
This is one of the few books on the practical application of
electricity in medicine that is sufficiently brief, plain and practi-
cal to come within the scope of use for the general practitioner.
Such a work that becomes at once available to the use of the
general practitioner must be stripped from its technicality as
much as possible, and present the practical side of electrical ap-
plication in disease. Of course, we must not expect too much
from electrical treatment, as it is surely not a cure-all, but as an
accessory to other treatment it becomes, at times, a most desir-
able adjunct in the cure of stubborn cases not amenable to
ordinary medical treatment.
This book certainly presents the practical side of the subject
in a brief and plain manner so that it is easily understood by
those not specially trained on the subject. About sixty- six
pages of this book are devoted exclusively to the X-rays. — Medi-
cal Summary.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAKKL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM,
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
New York, February 27, 1901.
Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder:
In accordance with the instruction of the Executive Committee
I herewith transmit to you the result of the vote on place of
meeting of the American Institute of Homoeopathy for its ses-
sion in June, 1901. As the vote was not canvassed until the
23d day of February, practically all votes were received in time
to be counted.
The number of votes cast is surprisingly large and indicates
the interest taken by the Institute members in the matter of
place of meeting. No such expression of opinion from so large a
number of our Institute members on any given subject has ever
before been obtained.
Result of vote: Montreal, 56; Cambridge Springs, 27; Niagara
Falls, 281; Richfield Springs, 569; Blanks, 36; total, 969.
In accordance with this decision the American Institute of
Homoeopathy will meet at Richfield Springs, June 18, 1901.
I am,
Fraternally yours,
E. H. Porter,
General Secretary of American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Dr. Miesseer sends in the following corrections of mistakes
occurring in his paper published in the RECORDER for January:
"On page 33, second line from top, read discern for discover;
on 4th line, on same page, read ' motto ' for matter; on page 34,
on 16th line, read 'rendition' for revision; on page 35, on 20th
line from top, read 'Heyse's' for Heyre's; on same page, 5th
Editorial. 139
line from bottom, read 'mottoes' for matters; on page 36, 13th
line from top, read Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago for
Homoeopathic, etc.; on same page, 19th line from top, read
' papers ' for pages."
Medical Talk is a breezy little free lance recently turned loose
on the world to worry the souls of the big wigs, and to say and
do original things. In March it says:
" Insanity is a hard word to define, but if we were to attempt
a definition we should say that a man is insane when he does
anything to injure himself or others without some rational object
in view."
Suppose a man was to meet the editor of Talk some night
when the editor's pockets were bulging with subscription money,
sand- bag him, and take his money away, would the sand-bag
man have a rational object in view in thus injuring the Talk
man ?
A Buffalo, not a member of the new order, but a citizen of
the Pan-American Exposition city, citizen, a preacher, recently
preached against vaccination. This aroused the wrath of the
Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, and it retorts " And
Baalam's Ass Spake," which demonstrates that the B. M. and
S.J., whatever its qualifications in the matter of medicine, is
sadly off in Scripture, or else it is very subtle anti-vaccinationist.
We all know (barring those who don't) that had not Baalam's
Ass have spoken Baalam would have fared badly. Hence, if
the Buffalo preacher is in the role of the ass the editor should
harken to his voice.
A correspondent sends us the following clipping from the
Washington Post. The date we cannot decipher, but it is about
March 1st. Our correspondent says it is of at least "passing
interest."
" I took a stroll up Massachusetts avenue to Scott Circle,"
said Representative Esch, of Wisconsin, yesterday, " and I was
viewing the Hahnemann statue. The inscription on it quite sur-
prised me, for it reads: ' Similia similibus curentur.' Now, old
Dr. Hahnemann was too positive a soul to ever use the subjunct-
ive mood, which is incorrectly employed in this inscription. It
140 Editorial.
reads, when correctly written: ' Similia similibus curantur,' the
last word being the indicative mood, passive voice, of the
verb."
" Some days later I was going through the basement corridor
of the Capitol," added the Wisconsin member from La Cross,
" and I noticed the model of the Hahnemann statue stored away
there. I was curious to see how the Latin inscription was
written on this model. I found the inscription correctly written
on the model, and why it was changed on the statue I cannot
imagine."
A Seneca, Kansas, correspondent of the Medical World, Dr.
Joseph Haigh, agrees with another correspondent of the same
journal when he asserts that vaccination is no protection against
"Cuban itch;" otherwise, small-pox. The worst cases in
Seneca had been successfully vaccinated, he says. One of them,
his office boy, " was a typical case of successful ' take.' " Still
about the time the scab came off he developed a fine case of small-
pox. Then his brother, who had been vaccinated three times,
but no " take," developed the disease. After this the first boy,
in two weeks after recovery, developed a still worse attack of
small-pox. Hence Dr. Haigh thinks vaccination is a fraud.
The following letter addressed to the Homoeopathic Envoy
will not be out of place in the Recorder pages:
Paris, February 13th.
The Editor of the HomcEopathic Envoy.
Dear Sir: — Several months ago I read in your popular journal
a note about the bust of Hahnemann over his grave at the cem-
etery of Pere Lachaise. That note comes from a Philadelphia
journal, The Press, and has been reprinted in the Monthly Ho-
moeopathic Review, of London.
It may be that the son of David d' Angers, author of the bust
of Hahnemann, was present at the ceremony of dedication;
nevertheless he has not been introduced, neither to me nor to
any other member of the committee, as far as I know.
As Secretary of the Committee, and acting alone in France, I
can assure you that the bust placed over the grave is a gift from
the hospital St. Jacques. The bust is in bronze; the authentical
Editorial. 141
bust of David d' Angers is in marble. It was the property of
Mrs. Baronne von Bonninghausen, and I saw it with its gold
crown in her drawing-room of rue de la Faisanderie, in Paris.
At her death, just at the time of erecting the monument, she
bequeathed that bust for the grave: but the difficulty of conserving
that marble in the open air, and the better aspect of bronze with
scotch granite, led us to prefer the bronze bust, and now the
authentical bust of David d' Angers belongs to Mr. Cloquemin,
an old friend of Mrs. Baronne von Bonninghausen, and is in his
hotel.
I do not know where the Philadelphia journal found the
story of the son of David d' Angers: it all seems very interesting
to read, but, unfortunately, is pure imagination.
Believe me, dear Editor,
Yours very truly,
Dr. Francois Cartier.
Secretary of the International Committee for the Hahnemann's
grave, and Secretary of the French Homoeopathic Society.
A Saginaw doctor has propounded a new theory as to the
reason for vaccine virus not takings He asserts that " a germ
only lives on filthy soil" and that the habit of scrubbing the
arm with soap, bichloride of mercury, alcohol, etc., etc., is
simply death to the average germ on the vaccine point. If you
want it to " take," the dirtier the skin the better, according to
the doctor from Saginaw in Medical Brief for March.
The Monthly Homoeopathic Review for February opens with an
editorial on "Our Proving* " the text of which is the recent
widespread arsenical beer-poisoning in England. The editorial
quotes from an article in the British Medical Journal to the effect
that " this extraordinary outbreak of diet disease will doubtless
add much to our knowledge in regard to the toxic effect of
Arsenic by revealing symptoms not hitherto recognized as
characteristic of arsenical poisoning." The editor of the Re-
view then makes a careful abstract from Allen's Encyclopedia
of Pure Materia Medica of the provings of Arsenic and then says:
11 This analysis of our provings shows conclusively the value
142 Editorial.
and accuracy of our Materia Medica, and it is simply scandalous
that with such a work existing ignorant prejudice should
ignore it. We feel proud of it, and look with pity on those who
obstinately shut their eyes to such a mine of drug-lore."
True, every word of it !
However, one must not be too severe on the old school men
when we look over our own journals and " Transactions" and
read the many slighting allusions to the grand old Homoeopathic
Materia Medica contained therein, and that the work must be
done over again, which, of course, is practically proclaiming
that the work of which the Review is " proud" is a failure.
It isn't, of course, for all there is of Homoeopathy is built on
that Materia Medica, but this sort of criticism cannot but some-
what impede the progress of the science of therapeutics.
The Medical Record of February 9th contains a review of
Dewey's Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics that is rather
curious and raises the question: Which school has approached
the other? Here is the review:
"This volume serves to indicate how closely the two schools
of medicine have agreed on the remedies which are useful in
different diseases. Thus, under anaemia, we find iron, arsenic
and cinchona as leading remedies; under angina pectoris, Amyl
nitrate and Glonoin ; under arthritis, Colchicum, etc. Of course,
the drugs peculiar to Homoeopathy are also included under the
different headings, which are arranged alphabetically, whether
as symptoms or as definite diseases."
" Crataegus is a remedy of great power in both functional and
organic wrongs of the heart In angina pectoris and in valvular
deficiency, with and without enlargement, most wonderful results
have been obtained from its exhibition after the failure of some of
the best known heart remedies. In cardiac dropsy its action is
promptly curative, and in dropsical conditions not of cardiac
origin it is said to be efficient. The best results are usually
obtained from doses not exceeding two to five drops of the
medicine every two to four hours. Very large doses frequently
cause nausea and a sensation of fullness in the head." — Fyfe.
Editorial. 143
" Meditating among liars and retreating sternly into myself, I see that there
are really no liars or lies,
And that nothing fails its perfect return, and that what are called lies
are perfect returns.
And that each thing exactly represents itself and what has preceded it.
And that the truth includes all and is compact just as much as space is
compact,
And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth — but that
all is truth without exception;
And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am,
And sing and laugh and deny nothing."
— Walt. Whitman.
The Charlotte Medical Journal for February devotes a page
editorially to the paper by Dr. T. F. Allen published in the
Homceopathic RECORDER in January. The Journal grows
quite merry over the paper. In this it reminds one of the
French Academy when that body roared with laughter at a
very " unscientific " man who proposed to use smooth rails, and
smooth tires on locomotive wheels. The academy saw at once
that the engine would stand still while the wheels went around
and around under it. Hence much "scientific " laughter.
The Journal shows as much evidence of comprehending the
laws governing the science of therapeutics as the French
Academy did those of mechanics.
Says the former: "For cancer use Gelsemium and Phos-
phorus / / "
Therein is shown the difference between the physician who
knows the science of therapeutics and he who does not.
The physician who knows treats the patient.
The physician who does not know treats the disease. He
tries, sometimes, to cut it out. Sometimes he regards it as a
bug, and thinks to kill the bug, otherwise, the disease. He
cannot comprehend the broad view of the physician who treats
the patient. So sometimes he laughs at him and sometimes he
gets angry, but never looks into the broad brother's methods.
He is not to be blamed for this, however, for he is not bnilt that
way. He must have an "authority" to guide before he dare
swerve from the beaten path.
The two eases reported by Dr. Allen were diagnosed, and, as
far as they dared, treated, as malignant cancer, and finally pro-
nounced hopeless. This was done by the most eminent men of
the Journal' s pursuasion.
Dr. Allen cured them.
Thereat the " most eminent" backed down on their diagnosis,
notwithstanding it was backed up by three operations, and the
Journal capers.
It isn't scieyitific conduct, gentlemen?
PERSONALS.
If there was no advertising back of antitoxin it would be as dead as, say,
Brown-Sequards, Elixir of Life.
Dr. White's letter on the cure of cancer with the indicated remedy is
worth reading. See page 115.
Dr. C. C. Carroll (JV. Y. Tribune, Jan. 8) asserts that after every epi-
demic of vaccination there is a marked increase " of a rapidly progressing
form of tuberculosis."
On account of eight deaths from lock-jaw the government has "pro-
hibited the use of the serum throughout all Italy " pending investigation.
Pine-apple juice will clear up the diphtheritic throat better than any-
thing else.
Quacks are like poets, born not made.
Dr. B. F. Bailey's pamphlet, "Homoeopathy in the Public Service," is
very interesting.
If a patient dies under homoeopathic treatment the question sometimes is,
" Why wasn't something done ? "
But if he dies under spectacular treatment they say, " Everything was
done but of no avail ! "
Yet Bradford's Logic of Figures proves that the chances under the non-
spectacular treatment are about double.
The rolling stone gathers no moss, but it has lots of fun.
The man came out of the automobile race in about four weeks, and on
crutches.
FOR SALE. Office practice, including the specialties of the Eye,
Ear, Nose and Throat, with Electrical Treatment,
in a town of 10,000 inhabitants. Office Furniture and Equipments will in-
voice over $1000. Practice last year netted $2200. Object of selling, poor
health. Price, $1000 cash. Address, L-ock Box 244, Uhrichsville, Ohio.
" Life is short, patients fastidious, and the brethren deceptive." — Latour.
TJJ ANTED '. Second-hand set of Hering's Guiding Symptoms.
Address X, Homoeopathic Recorder, P. O. Box
921, Philadelphia, Pa.
The homoeopaths of Pennsylvania are working for a State hospital for the
insane. As they pay a big end of the taxes they are entitled to what they
ask.
No John, it is hardly right to speak of the aisle of a church as a bridle
path, especially if the groom happens to be a bigger man than you.
Bradford's Index to Provings is of great value to all students }f Homoeo-
pathic Materia Medica.
At your leisure moments read Dr. James' " History of the American Insti-
tute of Homoeopathy. You will find it to be very interesting.
The difference between "looting" thieving is — is — ?
When the "down-trodden " gets on top then the down-trodder becomes
the down-trodden.
Subscribe for the Recorder.
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI Lancaster, Pa., APRIL, 1901. No. 4
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Eleventh Annual Session.
The eleventh annual session of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in City Hall, Albany, New York,
June 7, 1854, and was opened at 10 o'clock a. m., by the General
Secretary, Win; A. Gardiner, M. D.
About fifty members answered to the roll call.
Lyman Clary, M. D., of Syracuse, was elected Chairman of
the meeting, and in his opening remarks suggested that an
effort to make the session very profitable would induce better
attendance of the members.
The Rules of Order were omitted to allow the passage of
resolutions to the effect that — No. 10 in the order of business be
transferred, and become No. 3, which shall be amended to read
"choice of chairman and such other officers as are elected by
ballot," and — "That the elective officers of the Institute be in-
eligible to the same office for two successive years." The election
of officers then proceeded, resulting in the election of Samuel S.
Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, as General Secretary ; J. Rodman
Cox, Jr., M. D., of Philadelphia, Provisional Secretary, and A.
S. Ball, M. D., of New York, was elected Treasurer in the place
of A. S. Kirby, M. D., who had held the office from the organiza-
tion of the Institute, in 1844.
The Board of Censors were Wm. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath,
Me.; J. Iy. Martin, M. D., of Baltimore, Md.; Geo. W. Swazey,
M. D., of Springfield, Mass.; A. E. Small, M. D., of Philadel-
phia, Pa., and H. M. Paine, M. D., of Albany, N. Y.
146 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
The Chairman appointed C. A. Stevens, M. D., of Coxsaekie,
N. Y.; J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa.; F. Humphreys, M.
D., of Auburn, N. Y. ; H. Adams, M. D., of Cohoes, N. Y., and
H. L. Chase, M. D., of Cambridge, Mass., the Committee on
Treasurer's Account.
S. B. Barlow, M. D., Chairman of the Committee on Cholera,
made no report, and the Committee was continued for another
year.
The Committees on Blisters and the Translation of the Materia
Medica Pura, not being prepared to report were passed over, as
were several others.
The Committee on a Testimonial to Constantine Hering, M.
D., made no report and asked to be excused from further action.
The physicians appointed to write essays upon important sub-
jects were then called upon.
J. P. Dake, M. D. , on the Value of Clinical Experiments, made
no report, and was continued for another year.
J. G. Loomis, M. D., on Mechanical Supports, etc., having
died, I. M. Ward, M. D., was appointed to write upon the
subject.
C. D. Williams, M. D., on Small-Pox, etc., having no report,
was continued.
A. E. Small, M. D., on the Nature, Pathology and Homoeo-
pathic Treatment of Diseases of the Respiratory Organs, asked
for further time, which was granted.
S. Gregg, M. D., on Nature, Pathology and Homoeopathic
Treatment of Diseases of the Urinary Organs, reported progress,
and asked for further time, which was granted.
Constantine Hering, M. D., made an interesting and spirited
report from the " Provers' Union," which was published.
The Rhode Island Homoeopathic Society made a satisfactory
report, which was published.
The Treasurer's report was received and referred to the Com-
mittee.
At the afternoon meeting a report was received from the
Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society which was read, ac-
cepted and printed.
The Board of Censors having reported the following physicians,
as qualified for membership, they were elected:
J. G. Howard, M. D. Philadelphia, Pa.
J. L- Sheek,
D. F Bishop,
American Institute of Homoeopathy.
H7
W. H. Dake, M
. D. Pittsburg,
Pa.
J. A. Blanchard,
(i * (
i i
J. C. Burgher,
< < ( i
i i
J. B. Wood,
WY-st Chester
1 1
j
Win. Brisbane,
Baltimore,
Md.
B. Sanborn,
St. Johnsbun
r, Vt.
C. B. Darling,
Lyndon,
"
John A. Work,
Burlington,
< i
Edward R. Scisson,
" New Bedford
, Mas<
Alfred B. Stone.
Boston,
< i
J. G. Wood,
Salem,
( <
Henry B. Clarke
New Bedford
< c
H. H. Hoffman,
Pittsburg,
Pa.
William Henry Watson,
Utica,
X. Y
Henry C. Blanchard,
" Keesville,
< (
A. H. Beers,
Buffalo,
( i
Chas. G Bryant,
Albany,
i (
Thos. F. Pomeroy,
Utica,
"
Franklin Bigelow,
Syracuse,
( <
J. G. Bigelow,
(i i <
C (
Win. H. Randall,
" Albany,
( (
Geo. S. Green,
Hartford,
Conn
N. F. Cooke,
Providence,
R. I.
Elijah U. Jones,
Dover,
X. H.
Chas. H. Walker,
Manchester,
"
Shadrach M. Cate,
" Augusta,
Me.
Rufus Sargent,
" Princeton,
NT. J.
A. C. Miller,
Gloucester,
< <
J. W. Cox,
Albany, X. Y.
Daniel Wilde,
New Bedford,
Mass
A report from the Central Bureau was read by F. Humphreys,
M. D., accepted and published in the proceedings.
C. H. Skiff, M. D., read a report from the Homoeopathic Medical
Society of Connecticut which was accepted and published in the
proceedings.
A report from the Homoeopathic Society of Xew York, a branch
of the Institute, was read by B. F. Bowers, M. D., accepted and
published in the proceedings.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the Institute met to hear the
eloquent address of William E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Maine.
His subject was "Art and Science in the Treatment of Disease."
148 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
He delivered a most comprehensive address on the efficacy of the
homoeopathic method of treatment, of disease, giving many in-
stances and elaborate examples in its favor.
He said that "Art is the handmaid of science — it is science in
act, or science in use. Art is the work, and a knowledge of the
principles by which this work is performed constitutes science.
Science belongs exclusively to the world of mind — art to the
world of matter. Science is an aggregate of principles — art is the
result of the same principles brought down to the plan of every-
day life."
Medicine, he further, stated, was both an art and a science, the
science showing us the means of cure and the application of these
means, and the preparation of the same, constituting the art.
He explained the synthetic and the analytic methods of investiga-
tion, or that of induction.
The world's progress was marked by epochs in the arts and
sciences, every department having its morning, noon and night,
and then proceeding to a new day. He referred to the many
medical theories that had come and gone into oblivion from the
time of Hippocrates to Hahnemann and referred to Van Helmont's
statement that "medicine did not advance, but turned upon its
axis." He mentioned the dawn in 1790 of the new day in medi-
icine through the genius of Hahnemann.
He asked the question if every form of disease has been success-
fully treated by one law of cure why may not every case of disease
be cured; and answered that it might be — unless it had passed
beyond a certain point, for there is a point in the progress of
disease beyond which restoration is impossible. He then en-
deavored to point out how failures might be embraced under three
heads, first, the materia medica, second, the physician, and third,
the patient.
He spoke of acute maladies which come from without, arising
from telluric influences, improper feeding and sudden atmospheric
changes, and of chronic diseases which come from within, such
as are derived from the hereditary depravity of mankind.
The former is speedily remedied, while the latter may take a
long period of treatment, and he advised against a homoeopathic
physician taking charge of such a case unless the patient promised
full submission on this point.
Dr. Payne claimed that only by the utmost extension of the
Homoeopathic Materia Medica, its scientific arrangement and the
11 ighte nment of the public mind would success be obtained.
American Institute oj Homceopathy. 149
He closed by saying that " the comfort, the progress, the wel-
fare of the human race is the end, and an approving conscience
the reward."
His address was highly appreciated, and he received the thanks
of the Institute. It was published with the proceedings.
On Thursday morning at nine o'clock the Institute again met,
with Dr. Clary in the chair.
J. R. Coxe, Jr., M. D., read an interesting report on Hydro-
phobine, which was accepted and published.
A communication was received from M. J. Rhees, M. D., of
California, on the diseases peculiar to that region, which was pub-
lished.
C. A. Stevens, M. D., offered this resolution, which was
passed: "That one thousand copies of the address of Dr. Payne
be pointed for the use of the Institute in addition to the number
for the proceedings."
J. P. Dake, M. D., offered this resolution, which was adopted:
"Tint with feelings of great satisfaction we have noticed the
efforts and success of Dr. Burq, of France, in establishing in allo-
pathic circles a belief in the efficiency of Cuprum metallicum in
the prevention and cure of Asiatic Cholera; especially since,
thereby, the homoeopathic principle is confirmed by allopathic
evidence, as well as its treatment of Asiatic Cholera, for more
than twenty years."
F. Humphreys, M. D., presented a resolution, which was
adopted: "That all committees appointed to report on scientific
subjects failing to report within one year after their appointment
shall be discontinued, except by a vote of two-thirds of the
members present."
On motion of Dr. Kirby, the resolution on the homoeopathic
law, offered by Dr. W. E. Payne at the last meeting of the In-
stitute, and laid over for a year, was taken up for further consid-
eration.
After a great deal of discussion by Drs. Kirby, Guy, Swazey,
Dake, Small and Williamson, Dr. Swazey moved to amend by
inserting the word medicinal before the word ?nea?is in the second
line, which, after arguments by Drs. Payne, Gregg, Pulte and
Swazey, was carried. After amendment and further discussion
this resolution was accepted.
Resolved, That we regard the homoeopathic law as co-extensive
with disease, and that a resort to anv other medicinal means than
150 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
those pointed out by the law Similia Similibus is the result, in
part, of the incompleteness of our Materia Medica, but mainly the
result of a want of sufficient knowledge, on the part of the physi-
cian, of those remedies already possessed by our school and not
an insufficiency of the homoeopathic law."
Dr. Preston, of Rhode Island, proposed that the Institute
should designate the place of meeting for next year, when the de-
cision was made in favor of Buffalo, N. Y., on the first Wednes-
day in June, 1855.
At the afternoon session, W. Williamson, M. D., offered an ac-
ceptable resolution, "That the Pharmaceutists of the Homoeo-
pathic School be recommended to use in the preparation of drugs,
by trituration, the proportion of ten grains of the drug to ninety
grains of sugar of milk, and for the sake of uniformity to retain
the numerical designation adopted by Hahnemann, and continued
by the majority of homoeopathic physicians."
The committee to inquire into the validity of the diploma of Dr.
J. Schmidt, and to examine in reference to the erasure of his
name from the record-book of the Institute, reported that they
had made faithful inquiry and examination and found that Jacob
Schmidt had a good and sufficient diploma and was entitled to all
the rights and immunities of a member of the Institute, and that
his name had been erased from the record book by some person
unknown to them at present. They therefore resolved — "That
the Institute do not question either the validity of Dr. Jacob
Schmidt's diploma nor his membership in this body, and that his
name be at once restored to the record by the Secretary.
F. R. McManus, M. D., made a voluntary statement with
regard to the erasure of the name, acknowledging the impropriety
of the act and agreeing with the course taken by the Institute in
the matter, and he hoped that all unpleasant feelings upon the
subject should be forgotten. All the members concurred most
willingly, and the matter passed into oblivion
J. H. Pulte, M. D., from the committee to procure a suitable
memorial stone in honor of the immortal Hahnemann, to be
placed in the Washington Monument, reported that through the
disinterested efforts of Dr. Paul Wolfe, of Dresden, a stone had
been procured and was then in the hands of the sculptor for the
purpose of being properly inscribed. This report of progress was
accepted and the committee was continued with the exception of
Dr. Hering, who resigned. Dr. Kirby offered the following
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 151
resolution which was adopted — "That Drs. J. H. Pulte and E.
Bayard, the committee on the stone to be placed in Washington
Monument, be requested, in the name of the American Institute
of Homoeopath}', to return thanks to Dr. Paul Wolfe, of Dresden,
Germany, fof his valuable contribution."
On motion, the Secretary was requested to obtain, and publish
in the proceedings of the Institute, a short biographical notice of
all the members who had died during the past year. He did so,
giving sketches of Joseph G. Loomis, M. D., Josiah Foster Flagg,
M. D., Lycurgus V. Payne, M. D., Lemuel K. Rosa, M. D., and
John Charles Gosewich, M. D.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., appointed to address the homoeopathic
physicians of the United States on the importance of concerted
action in the cause of Homoeopathy, being absent, was continued
for another year.
Drs. Gardiner, Kirby and Small were appointed a committee to
revise the Constitution and By-Laws, and report at the next ses-
sion of the Institute.
Resolutions were passed thanking Lyman Clary, M. D., for
his manner of conducting the meetings of the Institute, thanking
H. M. Paine, M. D., and other homoeopathic physicians of
Albany for the manner in which they were received and enter-
tained during the session, thanking S. R. Kirby, M. D., for the
faithful manner in which he had filled the position of Treasurer
for so many years, and thanking the Secretary, Wm. A.
Gardiner, M. D., for the able manner in which he had fulfilled
his duties.
On motion, both secretaries were appointed a committee to pub-
lish the proceedings of the Institute.
The Central Bureau for the current year consisted of F. Hum-
phreys, M. D., C. Hering, M. D., J. G. Howard, M. D., B. F.
Joslin, M. D.. and B. F. Bowers, M. D.
. J. T. S. Smith, pharmaceutist, of New York, exhibited to the
members some specimens of expressed juice of medicinal plants
triturated with Sac Lactis.
J. H. Pulte, M. D., of Cincinnati, O., was appointed to deliver
the next annual address with H. D. Paine, M. D., of Albany, as
his alternate.
The Institute then adjourned to meet in Buffalo, Xew York, on
the first Wednesday in June, 1855.
152 Pediatric Materia Medica.
PEDIATRIC MATERIA MEDICA.
Ferrum Phosphoricum.
By Thomas G. Roberts, M. D.
Ferrum phosphoricum is one of the most important remedies in
the Materia Medica in the treatment of congestive, inflammatory,
or anaemic conditions. Probably no other remedy is so often in-
dicated in the beginning of inflammations as Ferrum phos. It is
especially valuable before exudation has taken place, but often
cures after it occurs.
It is indicated in general where the face is flushed; pulse full
and quick; skin hot and dry; thirst; pain and redness of the
parts when there are lacking the restlessness and nervous anxiety
of Acojiite and the marked debility and muscular prostration of
Gelsemiuni. It causes relaxation of the muscular fibres of the
bloodvessels, thus causing congestion and sometimes haemorrhage
from rupture of the walls of the vessels. It is exceedingly valu-
able in the epistaxis of children. Ferrum phos. is also very curative
in fresh wrounds caused by mechanical violence. It is one of our
most important remedies in anaemia, and must not be forgotten
in the debility of children that are dull and listless, with failing
appetite and loss of weight and strength. In neuritis its action is
truly wonderful. This remedy has a very wide range of useful-
ness, owing to its peculiar relation to inflammation and anaemia.
The pains of Ferrum phos. are worse from motion, as the parts
are congested and inflamed; but, as cold applications lessen the
hyperaemia, they relieve the pains. Deep-seated inflammation,
however, requires the use of hot applications. This remarkable
remedy acts brilliantly in the highest potencies.
Outer Head. Head sore to the touch, pulling the hair causes
pain. The scalp is so sensitive the child cannot bear to have the
hair touched. Top of head sensitive to cold air.
Inner Head. Congestion of brain. Very valuable in the head-
aches of children; throbbing sensation in the head; face red and
eyes suffused.
The headache is worse from shaking the head, noise, stooping
and motion. Headache with vomiting of undigested food. Blind
headache. Vertigo. Cold applications temporarily relieve the
pains in the head by momentarily lessening the congestion of the
Pediatric Materia Median. 153
tissues. Nosebleed, also, relieves by lessening the quantity of
blood in the head. In the beginning of hydrocephaloid, when
the child is drowsy, heavy and the eyes are suffused with blood,
the pulse full and soft.
Byes. Inflamed eyes during dentition. Eyes reddened in
headache and meningitis. Conjunctivitis and photophobia in
measles and other eruptive diseases.
Eyes red and inflamed ' , with burnijig sensation; retinal congestion
very marked; sensation as if grains of sand were under the eyelids;
pain on moving the eyes; the. photophobia is worse from artificial
light.
Ears. Earache after exposure to cold or wet. First stage of
otitis. Inflammatory earache, with burning or throbbing pain,
or with pains that are sharp or stitching. Diffused inflammation
of the external ear, with burning, dark beefy redness. Muco-
purulent discharge from the ear, with a tendency to haemorrhage;
the pain is paroxysmal, and is not relieved by the complete estab-
lishment of the discharge. Mastoid process swollen and sore.
Arose. Bleeding of ttie nose in children^ when the blood is bright
red, with tendency to coagulate rapidly. Epistaxis of bright red
blood in gastro-intestinal diseases. Xosebleed caused by an injury
to the nose.
Face. Face earthy, pale, sallow. Florid complexion. Cold sen-
sation in nape of neck with flushed face. Pain and heat in the
face when cold applications temporarily relieve.
Teeth and Gums. Caries of the teeth during dentition. Fever
and spasms during teething , eyes inflamed, cheeks hot, worse by
warmth and better by cold drinks. Toothache due to an inflam-
matory condition, when cold air and liquids are soothing; motion
and hot liquids aggravate the pain. Gums hot, swollen and in-
flamed. The child during dentition is extremely restless and
irritable, has fever, flu died face, sparkling eyes and dilated pupils.
Recommended by Schuessler for feverishness in teething com-
plaints if Calc. phos. does not cure.
Throat. Throat sore ; tonsils red and somewhat swollen, with
considerable fever; membranous exudation in right tonsil. Dry,
red, infla?ned and painful throat with swollen glands. Probably
no other remedy is so frequently useful in the sore throat of
children. Has been used with success in the first stage of diph-
theria, and frequently relieves the distress in ulcerated throat.
Thirst and Aversions. Great thirst for much water, especially in
summer complaint. Aversion to meat and milk.
154 Pediatric Materia Medica.
Gastric Symptoms . Vomiting of undigested food. Vomiting
of food with a sour fluid. Inflammatory stomachache in children,
with loose evacuations. Vomiting of bright red blood. Inflam-
matory conditions of the stomach; pain after the smallest quantity
of food; relief from cold drinks and hot outward applications.
Vomiting in gastritis, whooping cough, summer complaint and
intermittent fever.
Abdomen and Stools. Pain in the bowels' with watery diarrhoea.
Undigested or watery stools; the skin is hot and dry, and there is
thirst. Indigestion, with the passing of worms or undigested food.
Stool watery, containing mucus and blood; there may be a little
urging to stool but no tenesmus.
Inflammation of the bowels from checked perspiration; diarrhoea
caused by a chill. Stools watery, mucous green, and frequent,
greatly weakening the child; child rolls its head and groans; face
pinched, eyes half opened; starting in sleep; urine scanty; pulse
and respiration quickened. Cholera infantum, with red face and
soft \ full flowing pulse; discharges frequent, watery, even bloody;
dilated pupils, rolling of head; child is much reduced and falls
into a stupor; after checked perspiration in hot summer days.
The blood vessels of the abdomen become greatly distended in
summer complaint, and the diarrhoea is sometimes watery and
contains mucus and blood; bloody serous stools, worse from mid-
night till morning, or bloody mucus mixed with watery discharge
day or night. Stools like bloody fish brine.
The stool may be yellowish, whitish, or brown with blood, or
green, watery, or green mucus with blood; the blood may be dark
or light. Intestinal and thread worms. Very valuable in the
loose evacuations sometimes associated with de?ititio)i. Vomiting
sometimes accompanies undigested or copious water}' stools.
Constipation from atony of muscular fibers of the intestines.
Tendency to prolapsus recti.
Uri?iary Organs. Ijicontinence of urine from weakness of the
sphincter. Constant dribbling of urine during the daytime, de-
pending on irritability of trigone and cervix vesicae, better after the
pressure of urine has been taken off by the recumbent posture.
Involuntary spurting of urine with every cough.
Rete?itio?i of urine, with fever in little children.
Larynx, Trachea and Bronchi. Loss of voice, hoarseness. Ex-
ceedingly valuable in acute bronchitis affecting the larger and
smaller bronchi of young children. Capillary bronchitis with de-
Pediatric Materia Medica . 155
bility and oppression; high fever; cough short, painful, tickling,
sometimes spasmodic, with involuntary urination. Violent fever
in the beginning of croup. In the initiatory stage of all inflam-
matory affections of the respiratory tract.
Cough. Acute, short painf id cough, with soreness in the lungs;
no expectoration. Tickling cough from irritation of the bronchi.
Hard dry cough with soreness from cold; in the beginning before
expectoration takes place, or there may be expectoration of
blood either streaked or clear. Usually the cough is short, dry
and hacking, but it may be paroxysmal. In general this remedy is
valuable when there are symptoms of oppression, as in Phosphorus
with the fever and congestion of Ferritin metallicum.
Whooping-cough,, with retching and vomiting of food or blood.
Inflammatory or catarrhal stage of whooping cough. Probably
no other drug is more often indicated in the beginning of coughs
and colds than Ferritin phosphoricum.
Circulation. Pulse full and rather soft. Hemorrhage from any
part of the body when the blood is bright red, with tendency to coag-
ulate rapidly into a gelatinous mass. Varicose veins. Xsevi.
Back and extremities. Acute articular rheumatism, particularly
when the shoulder is the part affected. In rheumatism when the
pains are felt only during motion, and are better from warmth.
Hip-joint disease with pain, throbbing, inflammation and heat of
the soft parts.
Postitre. The diurnal enuresis is worse from the recumbent
position.
Nerves. Malaise, weariness, or great prostration, especially in
summer complaint. Debility of children with no organic lesion
except that the teeth are carious; hair light and curly, and the
complexion delicate; fairly firm flesh. Debility of children with
failing appetite and consequent loss of weight and strength, with
did n ess and listlessness. Convulsions with fever, especially during
dentition.
Sleep. Sleeplessness and restlessness from a hyperaemic condi-
tion of the brain. Low potencies have frequently caused sleep-
lessness and sometimes epistaxis, while high potencies have been
found very effectual in relieving sleeplessness from too much
blood in the brain.
Fever. Fever with complaints accompanying teething, cough,
croup, gastritis, cystitis, retention of urine, rheumatism and con-
vulsions. Scarlatina simplex. Skin hot and dry. High fever
156 Pediatric Materia Medica.
with spasms during dentition, eyes inflamed, cheeks hot, worse by
warmth, better by cold drinks. Hyperaemia of the brain with
quick pulse and high fever, sometimes with little thirst; when
convulsions threaten during dentition.
Tissues. Hyperaemia from relaxation of the muscular fibers of
the bloodvessels. Inflammation before exudation has taken place.
Exceedingly valuable when children suffer from epistaxis. Blood
poverty, want of red blood. Varicose veins in young persons.
In bone diseases when the soft parts are red, hot and painful.
Ostitis, periostitis, hip-joint disease.
Dropsy when caused by loss of blood. Haemorrhoids when the
blood is bright red, with tendency to coagulate rapidly. It often
follows Calcarea phosphorica well in anaemia, as it improves the
quality of the red corpuscles, if indicated by the general symp-
toms.
Skin. In the beginning of measles when fever, conjunctivitis,
and photophobia are present in a marked degree. Often of value
in chickenpox, erysipelas, smallpox and other eruptive diseases.
To be thought of in the inflammatory stage of all skin affections.
Nsevus {Calc. fluor., Thuja).
Temperament. It has acted well in the leucophlegmatic san-
guine, nervo-sanguine and nervous temperaments.
Modalities. Congestion is characteristic of nearly all the
morbid states under this remedy, and, consequently, there is
relief from cold and aggravation from motion. The cold must be
applied directly to the congested part or no relief will be ex-
perienced. In deep-seated inflammations, however, heat and not
cold should be applied.
Relationship. Ferrum phos. stands between Aconite and
Gelsemium. Aconite, which is its nearest analogue, has a more
bounding pulse and there are associated restlessness, thirst and
anxiety. A small pulse is very frequently found when Aco?iite is
indicated.
Gelsemium has a more soft floiving pidse a?id more drowsiness,
muscular weakness and mental dullness. The action of Ferrum
phos. , on the respiratory organs shows the effect of both iron
and Phosphorus.
Compare: Aconite, Belladonna, Bryonia alb., Cinchona, Gelse-
mium, Hepar, Mercurius and Phosphorus.
After Ferrum phosphoricum , Kali mur., Kali phos., Calc. phos.,
Calc. sulph., Calc. fluor., Nat. sulph. and Antim. tart, are fre-
quently indicated.
Chicago, III.
Progressive Muscular Atrophy. 157
PROGRESSIVE MUSCULAR ATROPHY.
Pronounced Incurable by Eminent Neurologists, Cured by
Homoeopathy.
By T. F. Allen, M. D.
A young married woman who is a good comrad to her husband,
an athlete, has been in the habit of entering into all his out-of-
door sports, golf, hunting, shooting, and, especially during the
past summer, swimming (long distances), complained of pains in
her right shoulder which increased until her arm became helpless;
the muscles about the shoulder and right side, chest and back,
wasted, so that the whole region became perceptibly emaciated,
the sub-clavicular region, especially, sunken; the shoulder
drooped, and if the arm were permitted to hang down, the head
of the humerus would actually slip down out of its socket, often
causing extra pain in the axilla and shoulder; it became impos-
sible to put the hand to her head, so that she could not put up her
own hair, nor could she dress herself. The wasting and power-
lessness involved at last the whole shoulder region of the right
side of the body, pectoral, scapular, and axillary regions, and the
arm, as far as the elbow. Soon the trouble invaded the forearm,
and also began to show itself in the right hip and thigh. Emi-
nent specialists were consulted, electricity, galvanism, massage, and
many other injurious expedients were recommended and tried
with steady decline, and the husband was told that the disease
could not be and had never been arrested. Finally, after the
recovery of the husband's mother (in the house of an allopathic
physician, who was her son-in-law) from pneumonia, complicat-
ing chronic interstitial nephritis, the husband of my patient, who
had been informed by the attending and consulting physicians
that his mother could not recover, appealed in despair to me to
try homoeopathic treatment for his wife. The symptoms of the
case were as follows: 1. Pain in the right shoulder extending
from the top down the arm to below the elbow. This pain was a
constant dull ache, becoming, on motion, a sharp shooting; the
pain was worse at night; in a wind; in the cold; on uncovering;
and when lying on the right or painful side. There was a feeling
of powerlessness. (She could not raise the arm to her head, nor
could she dress herself. )
158 Progressive Muscular Atrophy.
How is a remedy to be selected ? No cases, cured, are on
record, so that clinical data are wanting. No drug has been
known to produce such a condition, in its pathology (if there be
any satisfactory pathology known), the etiology is obscure; only
symptoms can come to the rescue.
On January 4.H1, a prescription was made.
January 22d, the record states decided improvement, very little
pain, can now lie on the right side with comfort, which, for
months, she has been unable to do.
February 15th. Continued gain; the shoulder does not any
more slip out of joint as formerly; she is a trifle fleshier now, over
the right pectoral and shoulder regions.
February 28th. Can dress herselj; (a great gain, naturally
noticeable in the household economy); the arm gets tired only
after use, but not immediately after; is growing perceptibly
stouter.
March 2d. Complains of drawing pains in the front of the
right hip and thigh, finds it difficult to go up stairs on account of
this pain, which has been getting worse for a week past, the
whole right leg feels heavy and weak.
Calcarea carb. This prescription was effective, at once, as to
the lower extremity, but it was followed by aching in the fore-
arms and palms of the hands after any attempt to use the hands
or with occasional pains about the elbow. Return to First
Remedy.
March 30th. Great improvement, uses both arms freely now
without pain; no pain at night, is able to lie on the right side
without any discomfort.
Since that time there has been no return of the former troubles;
an occasional disturbance of digestion, due apparently to inability
to exercise as much as she has been accustomed to, has required
a corrective, but lately the lady has resumed, cautiously, her
active life out of doors, and is rejoicing in her renewed health,
and is able to wear her evening dresses with grace and satisfac-
tion.
Symptom — Analysis.
1. Region of the Shoulder.
2. Right upper extremity.
3. General weakness.
4. Aggravation from lying on the right .side.
5. Aggravation from lying on the painful side.
Clinical Cases. 159
6. Aggravation at night.
7. Aggravation after becoming cold.
8. Aggravation in the wind.
9. Aggravation from uncovering.
The above points cover essentially the totalit}' of the symptoms.
Noting the value of the remedies, on a scale of four (Bcenniug-
hausen method), under each point (values estimated by the prov-
ings, reinforced by clinical experience), we find as folfows:
Nux vom., 30; Phosphorus, 30; Silica, 28; Bryonia, 27; Pul-
satilla, 26; Mercurius. 25, etc.
These furnish a list for study and comparison. My first im-
pression was to give Nux vom. first, especially in view of the
stimulating, allopathic treatment, electricity, galvanism, massage,
tonics, etc. , but a little study convinced me of the greater simi-
larity of Phosphorus, especially as the mental state of my patient
was not at all similar to that of Nux vomica; accordingly I pre-
scribed Phosphorus in the seventh centes. potency, doses repeated
three times a day for three days, after which only an occasional
dose was prescribed, except when suspended to administer three
doses of Calcarea carb. for the manifestations of the trouble in the
right hip and thigh.
In regard to my failure to report, in connection with the above
narrative, the results of various tests of sensation, motion and the
general reactions, I can only say, that such tests in no way
affected my selection of the remedy, for none of the provings have
noted them, and the diagnosis made by the specialists included all
of them and probably many more, which served to establish their
diagnosis (and prognosis), but left them wholly in the dark as to
the proper treatment. The point here made is that the totality
of the symptoms and not the diagnosis, in this case, at least,
sufficed to cure.
Neiv York City, 3 E. 48th St.
CLINICAL CASES.
By B. B. Shaha.
Haemoptysis, or spitting of blood from the lungs. Dyanidhi,
a native of 18, had the disease in June, '99. First of all he took
no notice of it. When the disease took a serious nature he came
to my dispensary and asked for some medicine. The symptoms
were: Constant dry cough, high pulse, nausea, taste of blood in
160 Texas Medical Law.
the mouth, evacuation streaked with blood bright and red. He
was very slender and of delicate health. The cause of the disease
was not known to him. A few doses of Ipecac. 6 cured him in a
week and he is progressing in health.
Mammary Glands. — A woman of 27, mother of three children,
had a sudden inflammation on her mammary gland with constant
pain, part bright red, painful to touch. First Bell. 6 was ad-
ministered, but to no effect. Mercurius sol. was next administered,,
which hardly did her good; part softened, pus began to form.
The inmates of the house proposed to operate, but Hep. sulph
6, after three doses, burst the gland and the 30th potency com-
pleted the cure.
Hsematuria — A native of 60 had this disease with any
quantity of blood with urine. The cause was not clearly ex-
plained to me. The symptoms agreed with Cantharis, and I ad-
ministered same in 6th potency, perfectly curing him in four or five
days. The old man is still living.
Calcutta.
TEXAS MEDICAL LAW.
Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
Texas has enacted a medical law which becomes effective July
next. Below see synopsis.
1. Three Boards of Medical Examiners are provided, Allo-
pathic, Eclectic and Homoeopathic, each composed of nine mem-
bers, six constituting a quorum.
2. Candidates are to be examined upon the following subjects:
Anatomy, Physiology, Histology, Pathology, Chemistry, Materia
Medica, Therapeutics, Practice of Medicine, Surgery, including
diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat; Obstetrics, Gynaecology,
Hygiene and Medical Jurisprudence.
3. In case applicant shall fail to pass the examination, he or she
shall not be permitted to go before the board again for one year
thereafter.
4. Three members of the board may be appointed by the presi-
dent to examine a candidate and grant a temporary certificate if
found qualified, which shall entitle him to practice until the next
regular meeting of the board.
5. Physicians holding a certificate from a State board whose
medical law is as thorough as that of Texas, and whose certifi-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 161
cate bears the endorsement of the president and secretary of the
board that issued it, may have a certificate issued without ex-
amination by paying the usual fee of 515.00.
There is no country in the world that holds out so many in-
ducements to homoeopathic physician- asTexa-.
Every business and industry is in a flourishing c mdit'on. Our
climate is unexcelled. For further inform nun address,
W. D. Gorton, M. D.,
Chairman Leg. Com. of State Horn. Soc,
Austin, Texas.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
Editor of the Homceopathic Recorder.
My Deat Doctor: — An especial effort is being made this year to
extend the work of our National organization by increasing its
roll of membership. Special committees have been appointed in
every State and the work is being systematized so as to extend a
personxl invitation to every homoeopathic physician in the
country.
It is a lamentable fact that less than one-fifth of the physicians
practicing homoeopathy are members of the representative organi-
zation of the school. What homoeopathy is to-day is due to this
society, and what homoeopathy shall be in the future depends
upon this society. It has, through its existence and work,
secured privileges and protected the rights of ever}7 homoeopathic
physician in the land. It has made a recognition and standing
for every one of its practitioners. Thi battle to protect the rights
and to secure additional privileges for homoeopathic physicians is
not and never will be ended. It is therefore of vital importance
in order to secure the greatest good to all that this organization
be strengthened in every way possible. It is futhermore a duty
that every member of our schools owes to himself and to the
cause of homoeopathy to support in every way possible the
American Institute.
Every physician of our school can and should aid in this work
by supporting and endorsing, by membership at least, the efforts
of this Society.
Every physician is urged to become a member of this association
now. Application blanks will be furnished by the Secretary or
by any of the following members who are acting as Chairman of
the special committees in their State to secure new members.
162 American Institute of HomoeopatJix.
Dr. W. E. Green, Litle Rock, Arkansas.
Dr. Florence N. Ward, 606 Sutter St., San Francisco, Cali-
fornia.
Dr. Hugh M. Patton, 125 Mansfield St., Montreal, Canada.
Dr. D. A. Strickler, 705 14th St., Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Edward Beecher Hooker, Hartford, Connecticut.
Dr. L. B. Swormstedt, 1455 14th St. Washington D. C.
Dr. Henry M. Paine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Joseph P. Cobb, 254 East 47th St., Chicago, 111.
Dr. M. K. Kreider, Goshen, Indiana.
Dr. George Royal, Des Moines, Iowa.
Dr. M. Dills, Carlisle, Kentucky.
Dr. James S. Barnard, No. 21 12 Charles St., Baltimore, Mary-
land.
Dr. John P. Rand, Monson, Massachusetts.
Dr. Roy S. Copeland, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dr. W. S. Briggs, St. Paul, Minnesota
Dr. D. A. Foote, Omaha, Nebraska.
Dr. G. Herbert G. Richards, Orange, New Jersey.
Dr. John B. Garrison, 11 1 East 70th St., New York, N. Y.
Dr. H. E. Beebe, Sidney, Ohio.
Dr. T. H. Carmichael, 7127 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia,
Pa.
Dr. George B. Peck, Providence, Rhode Island.
Dr. M. J. Bliem, San Antonia, Texas.
Dr. C. E. Grove, Spokane, Washington.
Dr. J. M. Fawcett, Wheeling, West Virginia.
The above members of the Institute have accepted the Chair-
manship and have selected their associates, all of whom are taking
active interest in this great work for the good of the cause.
Every member should, through love of the Institute, give
enough of his time to extend a personal invitation to at least one
or two of his friends
Many physicians we find are not only willing, but pleased to
join the Institute when personally invited to do so and when told
that the necessary three endorsers will ba found for them. They
have dela):ed in many instances by not knowing whom to ask to
endorse their application.
The cost of membership, which should accompany the applica-
tian, is $7 00, which covers the certificate of membership and the
first 37ear's dues.
A. B. Norton, M. D.,
President.
Eugene H. Porter, M. A., M. D.,
181 West 73d St. , Neiv York City,
General Secretary.
Tuberculin and Diphtherinum. 163
TUBERCULIN AND DIPHTHERINUM.
By Dr. A. Nebel, of Montreux.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
February, 1901.
I. Asthma infantum. A girl of nine years, burdened with
tuberculous inheritance on the father's and the mother's side has,
had from early childhood asthmatic attacks occurring every three
or four days. The child is emaciated, with black hair, a some-
what dark complexion, pupils very much enlarged, the upper lip
thickened, the mucous membrane of the reddened nose with small
ulcerations, with an acrid secretion causing eczema. The tongue
is posteriorly coated yellowish gray, anteriorly there is strawberry-
tongue, much thirst, the lips red, the conjunctiva deep red, lack
of appetite, frequent pains in the abdomen, the whole body is
emaciated, but most of all the breast, in the lungs there is a
slight rattling.
The child received one dose of Tuberculin 1000 C. and one of
Sulphur 1000 C. In two weeks the child appeared more rosy,
breathed more easily and had only one attack of asthma, during
which the child was brought to me. And here is something at
which those so inclined may mock. On the evening before I had
prepared Tubercluin 1000 C. and 500 C. for my colleague, Schlegel,
inTuebingen, the thought suddenly occurred to me, now I will
experiment on that gigantic swindle of Hahnemann, smelling
of medicines* So I took in the evening a good whiff from the
bottle containing Tuberc?ilin 500 C. I could not sleep that night
till 3 A. m., through I was not excited only wide awake; at first I
had a slight oppression on the chest which, however, soon disap-
peared. Besides this there was a peculiar sensation of heat in
spots on the skin, so striking that I felt the spots with my hand,
but the skin showed no heat in these spots. The sensation was
similar to that caused by Sepia; toward morning there was some
sour smelling perspiration in the axillae. On the afternoon
succeeding this there was some oppression on the chest, with a
desire of taking the fresh air, but the evening and night succeed-
ing were undisturbed. From this I concluded that, in my case at
least, Tuberculin 500 C. acts more gently when it is smelled at
than in oral ingestion.
*See Boeuninghausen's Repertory to the Antipsorics (Boger, translator.)
164 Tuberculin and Diphtherinum.
When the child was brought to me the next day I was glad to
have an opportunity of trying the therapeutic experiment of
smelling the medicine. The child entered my office gasping for
breath and with a hissing sound at every expiration, with an
anxious look of suffering, and after smelling the medicine she
left the office cheerily with almost normal respiration
In the course of the treatment she received Arsenicum 30 C,
Silicea 30 C, Sepia 200 C , Calcarea 100 C, Hcpar sulph. 30 C,
Tuberculin ioooC, with the result that her weight increased from
47/^ pounds to 51 pounds. The child has now a full face and a
rosy tint, her nose has stopped running, she has a good appetite
and no more thirst, the pains in her abdomen are gone, the chest
is again full, and the lungs show a normal state with the excep-
tion of a slight emphysema; the lymphatic glands on the neck
have decreased in size, and the attacks of asthma have not
recurred during the last two months. And yet her allopathic
doctor had given up the case as incurable.
Tuberculosis in an Adult — Relief.
II. Tiber culosis chronica. The father of the child mentioned
above came himself from a tuberculous family. His father and
three brothers and sisters died in the bloom of their age from
tuberculosis. He himself had been suffering in the lungs for ten
3^ears; he was using the Creosote treatment till now. On both
sides of the back there is a dull sound extending to the lower
third of the scapula. The left lung shows a decided retardation,
with a jerky, accelerated respiration and slight rattling noises.
Posteriorly on the left side at the top in a spot as large as a silver
dollar; there is a bronchial respiration. The patient is tall, very
much emaciated, especially on the chest, with black hair,
brownish complexion, without appetite, with thirst, constipation,
dyspnoea, much cough, green expectoration containing tubercle
bacilli, with much blood mixed in, every two or three days, so
that he uses two or three handkerchiefs a night. Besides this,
there were severe nocturnal sweats, strawberry tongue, the specific
smell from the axillae and the chest, insomnia, mental depression
which shows at once in the face; general weariness.
I prescribed Tuberculin 1000 C. This caused enormous pains
in the cardiac region and a sensation as if the heart was swung
by a thin thread and moved back and forth; but this was only for
a few days. The cough rapidly diminished, as also the ex-
Tuberculin and DipJitherinum. 165
pectoration, which contains much less blood. The perspiration is
much less. The weight diminished two pounds. The secretion of
urine is considerably increased, the respiration easier, the com-'
plexion less morbid. Kali carbon. 100 C, one dose for the first
week; Calcarea card. 4 C, three times a day five drops, for one
week; Silicea too C, one dose for third week. In spite of the
fact that his weight has again diminished one pound, his general
health is better, but little expectoration, no more blood admixed,
the cough is much less; the appetite has improved, daily stools,
there is still some thirst. Tubetculin 1000 C, one dose; Arsen.
jod. 30 C, two doses for three weeks. The patient breathes much
more freely. Only a little cough morning and evening, no more
expectoration; the respiratory murmur is more abundant, no
more bronchial respiration. He cannot well bear sultry air. His
weight has increased by one pound. Prescription: Sepia 100 C,
Calcarea carb. 100 C, one dose a week. After two weeks he
feels right well. He only coughs a little in the morning. There
is only a slight perspiration on the chest. Has again increased
one pound. The appetite is good. He can now walk much
faster without respiratory trouble, feels much stronger and is full
of hopes for recovery. He received again Tuberculin 1000 C.
duse, Calcarea jodat. 5 D., to be taken three times a day for two
weeks. I promised, the man that in a year I would get him so
far that he would feel better than for ten years before. After two
and a half months' treatment he claimed that he had already ad-
vanced that far.
I might enumerate here two similar cases, in both of which
doses of Tuboculin 1000 were at first followed by loss of weight,
with violent neuralgic pains, showing that in case of great
stability of the nervous system a still higher potency should be
given .
A Diphtherinum Case.
In conclusion I will add an illustration of the action of Diphther-
inum.
III. Miss R. was some years ago freed from a violent gastric
trouble by Dr. Grubenmann. Soon afterwards a series of nervous
troubles appeared with a goitre, for which electricity was used.
The patient asked me for a goitre-remedy. I gave her Iodium 4
D. A week later she reported aggravation of the nervousness,
and I instituted a closer examination. The pupils were some-
what prominent, there was twitching and trembling of the mimic
1 66 Tuber ailin and Diphtherinum.
muscles and restlessness. There were cicatrices on the neck due
to glandular abscesses, emaciation of the breast, cold feet, lack of
•appetite, constipation. The tips of the lungs showed a dull
sound; during coughing there are peculiar whistling sounds.
The menses are somewhat early. The patient loves the fresh
cold air. The struma soft, the cervical arteries pulsate, palpita-
tion of the heart, cold feet. I half suspected that Basedow's dis-
ease was impending. I prescribed Calcarea carb. 30 C. In eight
days there was no improvement. I then gave Tuberculin 1000 C.
A few days later the patient came to my office with staring eyes
and quite excited; she seems confused and complains that all the
symptoms had grown worse. She has Graefian symptoms; the
right pupil staring and enlarged; the struma is considerably en-
larged, the arteries are pulsating visibly, very violent palpitation
of the heart, pulse 180. I asked the patient whether she had not
had similar attacks before. She then told me, as mentioned
above, that four years before her neck had been successfully
treated with electricity. In the course of the four weeks succeed-
ing the symptoms diminished somewhat — Calcarea carb. 4 C. But
a cold followed by catarrh and angina destroyed what had been
gained. The heart symptoms especially were quite tormenting,
being attended with weariness and depression, so that she could
not attend to her duties. I endeavored to get some therapeutic
hint from a closer examination, when I discovered by questioning
her that nine months before she had had diphtheria twice in
close succession. On this I gave her Diphtherinum 50 C, and
this was quickly followed by improvement. The heart worked
more slowly, the pulse went down 80, and she became more rest-
ful. Her eyes are less prominent and she is more quiet.
This case shows the great diagnostic value of Tuberculinum.
That it causes enlargement of the thyroid gland is shown from
the experience of the period of Koch's injections. I also found
this effect several times in my practice, as, on the other hand, also
the diminution of the goitre after high potencies. This case also
shows on the other hand that where infectional disease takes place
on tuberculous ground, as, e.g., diphtheria or influenza, we can
use with effect the respective toxins, and only when the ill effects
caused by these intercurrent diseases have been removed the
space is cleared for the action of the anti-tuberculous remedies.
Geranium Maculatum Case. 167
GERANIUM MACULATUM CASE.
Dr. G. P. Hale, Memphis, Mich.
A. B. S., aged 48 years; height, 6 ft. 2 in., broad shoulder,
hollow chested.
No history of haemorrhage or tuberculosis in the family.
When 15 years old had a haemorrhage from the lungs, induced
by heavy work in the corn field.
At 25 years old he had one at irregular intervals since that time
until September, 1893, when the last one occurred.
It was for this last one that I was called to attend him. It was
preceded by a dull aching pain in the stomach and a cough ex-
cited by a tickling in the throat pit. For years he had raised a
thick yellowish sputum and frequently a substance that — in the
language of the patient — looked like the " lights " of a chicken.
Various remedies had been given him to control this condition,
but with indifferent success, until upon the date mentioned it
seemed as though the flood gates were opened, and the blood
came freely from his nose and mouth.
The " regulars " who had treated him upon previous occasions
administered ergot for the haemorrhages, which always left him
in a miserable condition.
I gave Ipecac, Phosphorus and other remedies, but without suc-
cess, and in desperation resorted to Ergotole per os. and hypo-
dermically, with only temporary success, until on the fifth day
there occurred such a bleeding that he became blind for four
hours and the prostration was extreme.
Counsel suggested Geranium mac, and ten drops in half a
glass of water, a teaspoonful at short intervals, was given, and all
traces of blood from the sputum slowly disappeared.
The intervals between doses were lengthened and the Geranium
supplemented by remedies such as China and Calcarea phos., and
he was gradually restored to usefulness.
It is now six and one-half years since the last attack and he has
not had the chronic cough which for years annoyed him.
Neither myself nor my " regular " brethern were able to locate
the exact lesion in the lung. He complained of pain in the lower
lobe of the right lung on the anterior aspect, and also with pain
in the pit of the stomach, but at no time did the blood appear to
come from the stomach.
1 68 Common Salt in Diphtheria.
In two other cases less severe than the above, Geranium mac.
has served me well, and in severe uterine haemorrhages I pre-
scribe it with confidence.
You ask what are the indications for its use and my reply is
bright red haemorrhage. — Medical Councellor .
COMMON SALT IN DIPHTHERIA.
Dr. A. Seibert says: — Solutions of common salt were used long
ago for cleaning the nose and the throat, but they are not strong
enough to be of prophylactic value. It occurred tome, therefore,
to use it in diphtheria in the same way as it is used in the prep-
aration of corned meat and sauer kraut. And thus, since July,
1888, I have treated each case of diphtheria in the following
manner : —
At the very first visit, I spread a thick layer of fine salt over
the tongue as far as between the tonsils, by means of the moisten-
ed back of a roundish (not sharp) little spoon handle; then I turn
the spoon to the right or to the left, so as to have the edges now
standing upward and downward, and thus I press the salt on the
diphtheritic spot and its surroundings. No force of any kind is
used in this, and it is easy to maintain the spoon and the salt in
situ for a whole minute. On retiring the spoon, the salt remains
attached to the tonsils. After covering the spoon handle with a
new layer of salt, the same operation is repeated on the other side.
Only after some particles of salt have dropped near the
epiglottis, tussicular irritation is produced and in rare cases (in
sensitive patients) choking, and occasionally vomiting. In most
cases, children support this application of salt very well. Grown-
up and bigger children have stated that only after liquefaction of
the salt some irritation and tussicular fits are noticeable. In the
subsequent hawking and coughing I have frequently seen
membranes which had dropped being induced thereby immediately
to make a new application of salt on the now raw, ulcerous
surface.
The salt now penetrates rapidly into the diphtheritic mem-
bane, into the ulceration basis, and, through the intact mem-
brane, into the depth of the infiltrated and still healthy surround-
ings. Wherever it now reaches, it is bound to develop its anti-
septic effects. I may positively assert that the diphtheritic germs
undergo this effect. Mostly very soon after the first application,
Peritonitis, Two Cases. 169
fever and pain diminish materially, and, accordingly, at the next
visit (after six hours) tumefaction is found to be less and es-
pecially paler than before, while the subjective condition is
materially improved. Although the membrane may not be
removed, yet it his not enlarged and it remains localised; for the
application of salt twice every day "corns" the surroundings of
the diseased part in such a way that fungi and cocci are unable
to gain a foothold, and, on the other hand, the morbid germs es-
tablished already in the tissues and in the lymphatic and sanguif-
erous ducts are rendered innocuous by the salt.
It is self-exident that in highly-developed cases where the
laryngeal cavity is clothed in toto with the diphtheritic covering,
this treatment will not perform miracles any more than any other
therapeutic method.
I will not produce statistics. I wish only to say that I am
highly satisfied with this system of "corning diphtheria," and I
would like to recommend it to my colleagues.
Until now, I have not found it necessary to make the appli-
cation oftener than twice a day.
The method is simple, absolutely harmless, and without any
danger, and rational. — Health.
PERITONITIS, TWO CASES.
By Dr. Hesse, of Hamburg.
(From an address delivered before the Society at Halle. )
The homoeopathic remedies suitable for this disease are mani-
fold, as are the causes and symptoms of this morbid condition. If
ulcers of the stomach, appendicitis or puerperal fever in its first
stage are from the first treated homoeopathically, perforations and
malignant forms of the disease will usually be avoided.
Aco?iitum, Arsenicum, Belladonna, Bryonia, Mercurius and
Pulsatilla are the remedies first to be considered, besides Arnica,
which is especially to be kept in mind after severe labor and in
peritonitis caused by lesion. These same remedies, together with
Berberis, Lachesis and Rhus, are also the main remedies when
peritonitis is fully developed; in its later stages Carbo vegetabilis
is also useful. Two remedies which may both seem suitable may
be given in alternation. With tuberculous patients the best
remedy may be found in Sulphur, first in a high potency, allow-
170 Peritonitis, Two Cases.
ing it to develop its full effects, and, if necessary, repeated later on
in lower potencies. China, Phosphorus and Kali phosphoricum
may also be found useful as intermediate remedies.
case 1.
In the spring of 1893 I was called to see \V., who was eight
years of age. His mother had noticed some four months before
that his abdomen was becoming distended, and the family physi-
cian had diagnosed it as peritonitis with copious exudation.
When this increased and caused difficulty in respiration, the sur-
geon who was called in, by lancing, drew off about two quarts of
serum mixed with pus. This procedure had to be repeated in
four weeks. In the meanwhile efforts were made to alleviate the
disease by other measures also, as by the injection of Koch's
serum, but without success. The surgeon diagnosed the disease
as tuberculous peritonitis, and since he, as well as the family
physician, gave an unfavorable prognosis, the father told them
that he felt it to be his duty to look elsewhere for help, either to
hydropathy or to Homoeopathy; the family physician then
directed him to me (probably as the lesser evil).
I found a boy much emaciated, whose distended abdomen, ow-
ing to this fact, was doubly striking The abdomen was extraordi-
narily distended, a real drum, the navel protruded, and percussion
everywhere gave an empty sound, except in the region of the
umbilicus. The other notes taken at my first visit are as follows:
Strength not low. After having been vaccinated in his second
year, there had followed eruptions on the head and suppuration in
the axilla. Even before that he had been subject to wetting the
bed and to epistaxis. Since his sickness began he had been sub-
ject to diarrhoea, especially in theforenoo?i, three or four stools of
light grey matter attended with colic. Colic is frequent, aggra-
vated toward evening. About this time he also complains of the
room being too hot. His feet often feel too hot; he stretches them
out from under the cover. Fever with hardly any interruption,
between 10 1° and 1030. Disturbed sleep. He is peevish.
Anyone would at once recognize in this the image of Sulphur,
the past and the present supplementing each other. Eruptions on
the head, wetting the bed, epistaxis, diarrhoea in the forenoon,
grey stools, hot feet with the desire of stretching them out from
under the cover — evervthing shows the characteristics of Sulphur.
To act directly on the local process the exudation, I prescribed
two drops of the 3 potency, three times a day.
Peritonitis, Two Cases. 171
The effect of the medicine on the stools showed itself in a day
or two, as these became normal, so also the disposition and sleep
left nothing more to be desired. The appetite improved. The
fever, colic and sensitiveness of the abdomen during percussion
disappeared more slowly, it required four weeks. Later on I
used the second decimal potency of Sulphur.
More slowly still came the diminution of the exudation, yet
there was a manifest improvement from week to week. As the
exudation diminished uneven prominences in the abdomen ap-
peared, evidently caused by the draining off of the exudation;
these slowly disappeared. At my last visit in August I noted,
first of all, a general state of good health; local examination
showed still a slight distension of the abdomen; though his
mother averred that his abdomen had always been more prom-
inent, than that of the other children. With the exception of a
spot as large as the hand below the splenetic region, the sound
heard on percussion was everywhere tympanitic; the abdomen was
soft with no unevenness except in that one spot.
The result gave me great pleasure; the case was severe and a
fatal issue had been prognosticated by others; there was the clear
image pointing to a certain remedy, which had been given by
itself, and the favorable result could only be ascribed to this same
remedy.
Whether the disease was a case of simple peritonitis or of
tubercular peritonitis, seemed at first doubtful. Professor Xie-
meyer says: "Tuberculosis of the peritonaeum is hardly ever
found to be primary, but it usually follows on tuberculosis of the
lungs or of the bowels, or of the urinary and sexual organs. In
other cases it forms part of an acute miliary tuberculosis." None
of these combinations were found in this case, unless we would
claim that the diarrhoea was a tuberculosis of the bowels, which
would seem a rather arbitrary assumption. So there would be
left nothing but simple peritonitis, or, if we wish to classify it,
rheumatic peritonitis, which, as Xiemeyer says, is very rare, being
hardly ever found in persons healthy before that, and is caused
by taking cold or from unknown atmospheric influences.
Sulphur, called by Von Bcenninghausen the "divine remedy,"
is the remedy most frequently indicated in chronic diseases. The
Sulphur constitution is so general that the advice has been given
to begin the treatment of every chronic case with Sulphur.
172 Phlegmasia Alba Dole? is.
CASE 11.
A farmer's wife, being tired out and wet through with perspira-
tion, took a seat on a wagon, so as to avoid the fatigue of walk-
ing. Arrived at home, she at once took sick with a shaking chill,
colic and vomiting. Being called to see her, I found an acute
inflammation of the peritonceum. I gave her from the beginning
to the end of the case B?yonia, and in six days she was well
again. There remained, however, an inflammation of the liver.
I found out eventually that the patient for half a year before her
peritonitis had suffered from weariness, debility, pains in the
liver attended with a sallow complexion; this showed that the in-
flammation of the liver was not a consequence of the peritonitis,
but had been probably present before it. Mercurius solubilis,
four doses a day, followed eventually by Belladonna, also cured
this ailment fully and completely. — Tra?islated froi?i Willst du
Gesund Werden ?
A CASE OF PHLEGMASIA ALBA DOLENS.
Reported by Dr. Mossa.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recoredr from the Allg. Horn. Z.,
December 20, 1900.
June 2, 1876. A woman had been normally delivered of her
second child. Yesterday she was seized with a violent pain ex-
tending from the inner side of the thigh toward the toes; and
could not keep her limb quiet; in a few hours this pain dimin-
ished, but it left behind a heaviness in the limb, and the calf was
swollen, with a pulsating pain. The lochia were foetid, like filthy
water. The mind was sad.
At 6 o'clock in the evening there appeared a hard swelling in
the calf, attended with thirst. Rhus brought a transient relief;
Arsenicum given afterwards proved more efficient.
At 3 p. m. on June 2d she was sad; the flow of milk was
totally suppressed, there was less thirst, but otherwise no change.
The aching in the calf accompanied with heaviness led my choice
to Berberis, of which remedy I gave her a dose every three hours
(a high potency).
June 30, 7 p. m. The milk came in again, but watery; the
lochia are still foetid, but the calf is less swollen, the hard lumps
have disappeared; the sensation of heaviness is less, there is no
Phlegmvsia Alba Dolens. 173
pulsating paiu; the thigh is now swollen, and the pain draws
downward from the pudenda along the inner side of the thigh
down to the knee, as if that part were out of joint, but only while
moving. Berberis ever}7 4 hours.
June 4. She can move her limb better; the calf and thigh
are less swollen, but there is more swelling about the ankles.
The thighs are still painful. The milk flows more abundantly;
there is no thirst, the tongue has a white coating. Berberis is
continued.
June 5. Less swelling of the calf, the thigh and the ankles;
less pain in the thigh; the tongue cleaner. Continued.
June 6. The milk looks better; the thigh less swollen; no more
as painful; the limb feels less heavy; redness and swelling in the
right heel and the outer border of the sole, the vein on the sole is
enlarged, aching on the heel and the sole; especially on the outer
border. Kali carb. and Phosphorus have redness of the sole, but
Kali alone has swelling and pain. Kali carb. was also given
every three hours (high potency).
June 7. Less pain in the thigh; she can keep the limb hanging
down for a minute; less swelling in the leg, the ankle and the
foot; the foot is less red; the vein is normal; the milk is richer
and better; the tongne clean. Continued.
June 8, No pain in the foot, very little in the thigh; she can
move the limb better. Medicine continued in the morning and
evening.
June 9. She can now get in and out of the bed without help,
only the heel is still somewhat inflamed; less pain in the thigh;
the ankle still swollen. Continued.
June 10. Much better; stiff in the bend of the knee; with out-
side help she made three steps (a week before she not stand).
The lochia are abundant, no more foetid, like the menstrual
blood. Continued.
June 12. The swelling is almost gone, less stiffness; she can
walk better; but while doing so, there is pain along the inside of
the limb which was not the case before; the milk is better, but
not yet sufficient; the leucorrhoea is more pale and flows more
strongly while moving; the appetite returns. Continued (in the
morning).
June 14. Nothing but the ankle is now swollen and sore while
walking. She has gone down stairs. The medicine was dis-
continued.
174 Olive Oil in Gastric Affections.
June 20. The swelling and pain diminish day by day. The
ankle is bandaged.
June 26. Very little swelling and aching; the bandage is
removed, as it caused swelling.
July 22. The ankle is swollen a little in the evening; no other
morbid symptom.
Sept. iQt. The right calf and ankle are swollen; the calf is
hard and at times without sensation. These symptoms point to
Graphites' and this remedy was given in a high potency for 9-10
days.
Nov. 26. After Graphites there was an improvement. Xow
the calf is only somewhat hard and swollen; the ankle also is
swollen, No medicine.
Dec. 1878. The patient is now quite well. She was delivered
of another child a short time ago; the lying in was quite normal;
the phlegmasia did not return.
This case shows the uselessness and folly of prescribing accord-
ing to the name of diseases. In Guernsey's valuable work on
Obstetrics twelve remedies are enumerated in phlegmasia alba
dolens, but neither Berberis nor Graphitis is included in this
list, and the symptoms of Kali as there given are not those which
led to the choice of this remedy in the present case. If it is
found useful to add new remedies to a list collated according to
the extraordinarily rich experience of a Guernsey, then who
would limit the therpy of a disease to any set and determined
circle of remedies? The true remedy will always be found when
the symptoms of an individual case agree with those of a remedy;
the cure then ensues, or if the case is incurable, the greatest
alleviation possible is attained, if Hahnemann's other directions
are at the same time followed. This case also shows that
Berberis is not one of those remedies that needs to be given in
large doses, though many of the eclectics who consider them-
selves as Homoeopaths have asserted it.
OLIVE OIL IN GASTRIC AFFECTIONS.
At the International Medical Congress Dr. Cohnheim, of Berlin,
detailed his experience with large doses of olive oil in cases of
severe gastric distress. In his first case the young man had
suffered from an injury in the gastric region, and it seemed prob-
able that a traumatic ulcer had resulted. The pain on eating
Gout and Rheumatism. 175
was so great as to make the patient avoid food. A wineglass of
olive oil taken before meals gave complete relief. The same
remedy was tried in other cases in which stomach discomfort was
a prominent symptom Even in cases of gastric cancer relief was
afforded to many symptoms. In cases of pyloric stenosis most
satisfactory results were secured as far as the alleviation of symp-
toms was concerned. Besides, the dilatation of the stomach that
existed began to diminish, and eventually in some cases disap-
peared completely. Cohnheim has treated twelve cases of gastric
catarrh by this method with uniformly good results whenever
the patients bore the oil well. In one or two cases this method of
treatment was tried as an absolutely last resort before operation,
and it proved successful. Patients who had lost so much in
weight as to appear almost cachectic began immediately to gain
in weight, and within a couple of months gained from fifteen to
thirty pounds.
Professor Mathieu, of Paris, said that in certain of the country
parts both of Germany and France olive oil is used as a family
remedy for all stomach pains. It is most effective and has a high
reputation. In his practice at the Hospital Andral, Dr. Mathieu
has often used this remedy and knows how efficient it is where
less simple remedies have failed. He recommends it with confi-
dence despite its utter empiricism and lack of claim to any scien-
tific basis. — Health.
MERCURIUS SOLUBILIS AND SILICEA IN GOUT
AND RHEUMATISM.
By Dr. Goullon.
" Most Respected Doctor ; — Might I again ask for your kind ad-
vice? Now I am finally troubled also by gout and I would like
at once to get something to care it. An acquaintance of mine
in Dresden consulted, for the same ailment, Dr. V., who pre-
scribed Mercurius for her, but I do not now remember whether
it was Merairius cyanat. or corros. Please inform me about it.
On the first joint of the index finger there is a small painful
exostosis, and the middle finger pains on bending it, as if there
was a swelling in the joint.
"In the winter when I was painting for three months in
Berlin I had several attacks of influenza, one attack of pneu-
monia, and my rheumatism was worse. I was ordered to take
176 Gout aad Rheumatism.
baths, which, indeed, diminished the pains, but made me very
nervous. This is not strange, as I had to take four baths a
week, stay in the water half an hour at a time and then spend
another hour in bed. It was nothing else than a mild torture! "
In answer to this letter I sent to the lady, whom I had known
for years, Silicea, Calcarea carbonica and Lycopodium, as these
remedies are well known to be best adapted to cure outbreaks of
gouty and rheumatic affections in their various manifestations
and local symptoms, for eyes and nerves, the muscular and the
osseous systems are assaulted in turn and suffer from the merci-
less strokes of this malignant, sneaking enemy. What allopathy
fails in is frequently effected by the remedies mentioned above,
among which Sulphur should also be included.
On the 20th of August the patient wrote :
"I have tried several times to massage the parts affected,
but perceived every time an increase in the pains and in the
swelling. Is this aggravation necessary, and should I continue
notwithstanding? "
" I have not yet tried hayseeds, because the pains were not so
violent, and I did not know whether the stuff should be first
boiled, or simply be macerated.
" 'After all it is not the right but the left hand, God be
thanked!'
"The rheumatism remains ever the same, although I have
used a multitude of remedies and various physicians, homoeo-
pathic and allopathic, according to the facilities afforded by the
localities where I was staying. I have been thoroughly exam-
ined several times, but the medicines ordered in coasequence
did not afford a shadow of improvement. The best remedy so
far has been a douche of cold water followed by friction, and
rubbing afterwards with formic Ether or some such substance. I
have long ago given up all hope of a complete cure. Well! it
does not matter, to live is to struggle and to suffer, if only our
strength remains, so that we may bravely struggle on! Every-
thing is better than to be stranded and to sink down inactive!"
A depressing resignation appears in these words; it put me on
my mettle, to refute it. I did not give up Silicea, but on the
ground of the experience made in Dresden I added Mercurius
sohib., although I have not used this remedy as frequently in
such ailments as the ones mentioned above. We had not to rue
this change, and I was much pleased to receive the following
So- Called Black Light. 177
letter dated October 15th. I give it entire, though the last
paragraph touches on another matter, which, however, is also of
general interest.
Now for the result of the treatment:
"Honored Doctor : — What must you think of me in leaving
your kind missive so long unanswered! But I am loaded down
with hurry-orders, so that my nerves often rebel against it, and
when I lay down my brush in the evening I am of no good at
■all. But I must inform you that the gouty pai?is in my fingers
•are altogether gone. The exostosis which has grown very, very
small does not pain any more even on firm pressure. The im-
provement began even while taking your medicines, and their
after effects altogether removed the ailment in about fourteen
days. I cannot tell you, dear doctor, how glad I am over it aud
how much I thank you for it.
" What you told me in your letter before the last astonished
me, viz., that you are vividly impressed to think of people from
whom a letter is on the way to you. This may really be readily
explained, and is nothing but an entrance into consciousness of
the perceptive faculty of the soul. I also have experienced
similar wonderful things, and I believe that Divine Providence
sometimes makes use of this perceptive faculty in order to direct
our determinations and our fate.
" Once more many, many thanks and cordial good wishes from
"Yours, sincerely, E. L."
THE TRANSPARENCY OF MATTER AND THE
SO-CALLED BLACK LIGHT.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from Leipzig. Pop. Z.j.
Horn., February, 1901.
It has always been my view that the comprehension and true
explanation of homceopathic doses; i. e.t the possibility of action
of small and minimal doses of medicine, will best be obtained
through analogies. In this connection a communication of an
important discovery of the physicist, Le Bon, will prove of inter-
est. He remarks: " The form of energy here discussed may also
be applied to Homoeopathy, the remedies of which can only have
their effect owing to a quite definite form of energy in conform-
178 So- Called Black Light.
ity with natural laws. ' The sublimation of matter,' ' the ex-
treme state of the solution of matter and the infinitely subtle
divisibility of molecules ' " — all these are fundamental and essen-
tial conditions which alone make the existence of our so-called
infinitesimal doses conceivable.
To this also belongs the sublimation, the degree of separation
of the matter of Le Bon; this, he states, is even greater than that
of odors, and with immeasurable rapidity it gives to air the
power of electric conduction. Here then are found a number of
analogous momenta and important points of contact between
Homoeopathy and this discovery which has caused such a sur-
prise. Perhaps an abler pen may yet follow out the analogies
here set forth, and show their value in explaining the efficiency
of homoeopathic doses, though these are, of course, undeniable
even without any theoretical explanation.
About four years ago the French physicist, Le Bon, discovered
the phenomenon of a peculiar fluorescence of various substances,
to which he gave the name of " black light." Lately he has
made known the continuation of his interesting researches in
this matter in the Revue Scientifique and he mentions that this
phenomenon consists of an invisible fluorescence which is found
in very many substances. These phenomena appear more
especially in connection with Barium and Uranium in Torcmm,
Sulphate of Quinine and other substances. These dark radiations
can penetrate metallic plates, can influence plates sensitive to
light and can discharge electrified bodies. According to his
views, these emanations are not, however, to be regarded as rays
of light, but as another form of energy, since all experiments
founded on the properties of light have only yielded negative re-
sults. It is rather to be viewed as an emanation of substances
subject to an extreme state of dissolution and an infinite
divisibility of the molecules. Owing to their excessive sublima-
tion and consequent immeasurable rapidity they give to air its
power of electrical conduction. This degree of divisibility,
according to his view, must excel the divisibility which may be
established in the odors, e. g., which emanate from any body.
Book Notices. 179
A THUJA CASE.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the HomcEopathic Recorder from the Leipzig. Pop. Z. f.
Horn., February, 1901.
Mr. D. wrote me on Jane 2, 1899: For a few weeks I had
noticed on the right side of the chest below the nipple a flat
nodule as large as a bean ; it was not yet hard, caused a hot sen-
sation, and was somewhat painful whea the nipple was pressed,
upon.
The (allopathic) physician consulted looked at the swelling
and promised to keep the matter in mind, but he said that " he
saw nothing serious in it." I gave him a single dose of Thuja
30 D. and on the 17th of July Mr. D. wrote to me:
" Thuja had a good effect; the nodule became flatter and
softer and is less sensitive when pressure is applied to the
nipple."
Of course I shall allow Thuja to exert its full effect.
An interesting fact in connection with this case was that the
patient reported that, since taking the Thuja, his asthma has
become better.
BOOK NOTICES.
Index to Homoeopathic Provings. By Thomas Lindsley
Bradford, M. D. 305 pages. Cloth, $2.00; by mail, $2.10.
Philadelphia. Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
Verily this is a wonderful book! One is simply amazed at the
number of drugs that have been proved, and still more, so to
think, that any one man should have had the courage to attempt
to make an index of these provings scattered in books and
journals throughout the world, and to have had the patience to
have brought the task to a successful conclusion. Surely the
homoeopathic profession, and their posterity, owe our patient,
scholarly and genial bibliophile, Bradford, a debt of gratitude,
for those great works and collections of data, the Homoeopathic
Bibliography, the Life of Hahnemann, the Pioneers of Homoe-
opathy, the History of Hahnemami College and lastly the present
Index.
x8o Book Notices.
The book itself is a list of every drug of which any proving has
been made and following the reference to the books, journals or
other sources in which the provings were published. Henceforth
no one need ask, Where can I find an thing about such and such
a drug ? All he need do is to turn to the hidex and he can learn
exactly where every proving of it is to be found. We have not
counted the number of remedies, but their list covers seventeen
pages in double column. To the scholar, the student and to
the book lovers this work will be a treasure.
A Dictionary of Medicine. Giving a Description of Diseases,
Directions for Their General Management and Homoeopathic
Treatment. With a Special Section on Diseases of Infants.
By John H. Clarke, M. D. American Edition, Revised and
Enlarged by the Author. 365 pages. Cloth, Si. 25; by mail,
§1.35. Philadelphia. Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
This book follows the lines of the author's well-known Pre-
senter, but is a move further in the direction of popular use than the
Prescriber; in that book the diseases are alphabetically arranged,
but the reader is supposed to know all about their characteristics and
nothing else is given save the remedies. In the Dictionary the
same course is followed plus a description of the disease and
management of the patient. It is really a most excellent little
practice half way between a domestic and a work for physicians,
especially if the latter be new in Homoeopathy.
Curability of Tumors By Medicine. By J. C. Burnett, M.
D. 345 pages. Cloth, Si. 25; by mail, Si. 35. Philadelphia.
Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
The great interest aroused by Dr. T. F. Allen's paper pub-
lished in the January number of the Homoeopathic Recorder,
" After Surgery had Done Its Best," makes the appearance of the
second edition of this book peculiarly timely. The argument of
the book is that the tumor, or cancer, is the product of the or-
ganism; that the causes leading to the formation of the tumour
must be eliminated by internal medication if the body ever is to
regain normal health; that cutting the tumor out merely rids
the organism of the visible product, the result of which in fre-
quent cases seems to merely enhance the tumor-producing
Book Notices. 181
power of the body, the same as trimming a vine increases its pro-
ductive capacity.
The reply to Burnett's argument has been made that life is too
short to devote the time necessary to curing these cases with
medicine; that patients are impatient for something to be done,
and medicine won't cure these cases. The arguments to be made
on both sides are strong, and it would be well to know both sides,
for while it is true that there are those who will not consent to
await the, sometimes, slow action of medicine, nevertheless, the
majority would gladly do so; for the idea of being under the
surgeon's knife is not a pleasant one.
Another point. Burnett (and this applies to nearly all of his
books) is sometimes criticized for not giving in detail the indica-
tions that led him to prescribe the list of remedies he frequently
uses in a long-running case. But it requires no given symptoms,
as we read the book, to lead to the prescription of the nosodes of
the two great venereal diseases; where a constitutional taint of
either is knowm or suspected, or where there is tuberculous or
vaccine taint, Bacillinum, or Thuja, can be given as inter-cur-
rents on the mere fact. These books are largely suggestive of
the enormous possibilities in internal medication, and to men who
will really study their cases and their drugs, are invaluable. This
book on tumors is among the most widely useful, for cancer is
rapidly increasing.
Fischer — Infant-Feeding in Health and Disease. A Modern
Book on all Methods of Feeding. For Students, Practitioners,
and Nurses. By Louis Fischer, M. D., Attending Physician
to the Children's Service of the New York German Poliklinik;
Bacteriologist to St. Mark's Hospital; Professor of Diseases of
Children in the New York School of Clinical Medicine; At-
tending Physician to the Children's Department of the West-
side German Dispensary; Fellow7 of the New York Academy
of Medicine, etc. Containing 52 Illustrations, with 16 Charts
and Tables, Mostly Original. 368 pages, 5^ x 8 inches.
Neatly Bound in Extra Cloth. Price, $1.50, net. Delivered.
F. A. Davis Company, Publishers, 1914-16 Cherry St., Phila-
delphia, Pa.
A very thorough work on the feeding of babies that it would be
well for doctors to study who are called upon to advise on this
subject.
1 82 Book Notices.
Tratamiento Bioquimico de las enfermedades segun el metodo
del Doctor Schuessler, per Julio F. Convers. Bogota. 1900.
A pocket-size book in Spanish of 467 pages on the treatment of
disease by the tissue remedies that will be very welcome to all
who speak the Spanish language.
In a long review of Dewey's Practical Hoiiiceopathic Therapeu-
tics the Homceopatic World says: " In this work he has, in fact,
done for therapeutics what Farrington did for Materia Medica."
Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics. By W. A. Dewey,
M. D.
We hope that we may shake hands with Dr. Dewey in June
and tell him he is all right. His therapeutics is the best thing
that has happened since Lilienthal presented the profession with
his work along that line. Now that good Saint Samuel has
passed into the Great Unknown we welcome Admiral Dewey.
If you want a work on allopathic therapeutics, don't send for
this. Dr. Dew7ey is not in that business. He is practicing
Homoeopathy, lecturing on Homoeopathy and incidentally is edit-
ing a journal of Homoeopathy, so he really ought to be forgiven
if he has not had time to fill in a page now and then with the
latest old school literature.
If, on the other hand, you want a book of homoeopathic thera-
peutics, pure, simple, straight, clean and up-to-date Homoeopathy,
here you are. It is one of the books you want. You want it
handy. Right on the nearest corner of the middle shelf of your
book case. — The Clinic,
11 Hernia " is the title of a 31 page pamphlet by Dr. S. H.
Linn., 243 Alexander street, Rochester, N. Y., which he offers
to send free to any of the Recorder's readers who will write for
a copy. The book considers the electro-calaphoric, chemical
hypodermic and surgical treatment of the disease.
We are glad to welcome the Medical Advance again, and hope
that it has at last found a permament abiding place. Its flights
here and there have been bewildering to the exchange man.
Condensed book catalogue of all homoeopathic books in
English language, just issned, may be had free at the B & T.
pharmacies.
Hornoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
A DISREPUTABLE PRACTICE.
Messrs. Boericke & Tafee.
Your " Jottings " received. Much obliged.
I was interested in your remarks on Green Plant Tinctures,
as I have experimented quite a little on that line during the past
fort}7 five years. Physicians in general should be better taught
in that department in order that they might know if an in-
ferior article is sent them, as mistakes sometimes occur.
During the past few months agents from different pharmacies
have visited me and have asked : ' ' Why not buy your Mullein
oil of us ? " When I tell them I never buy of anyone, they refer
me toa " Catalogue and Price List " of a certain Pharmacy Co.,
and tell me doctors they visit, say this certain pharmacy must
have good medicines, as Dr. Cushing buys his Mullein oil there.
Examining that catalogue I find that I have been given the
credit of introducing to the profession Homarus, Mullein oil and
Phaseolus ?ia?ia. Homarus is offered at sixty cents for four ounces.
Strength not given. After I had found one lobster that was all
right, although living where lobsters are plentiful, it took me a
year and a good man}7 trials to find another. Then I went to a
lobster wharf and slaughtered a good many of the innocents, and
spilled some of my precious blood, greatly to the amusement of
the lobster men. And on the second trial I learned what I
desired, and obtained the desired article, but not at fifteen cents
an ounce, for the lobsters would cost much more than that.
Speaking of Mullein oil, cases are given , taken from medical
journals treated by myself with Mullein oil, and it said the medi-
cine was prepared by that Pharmacy Co. That is a mistake
1 84 Editorial.
for I never bought a drop of an}' preparation of Mullein oil from
any pharmacy, but always prepared it myself. Speaking of
Phaseolus, a case is quoted from a medical journal where I gave
the qx and said it was prepared by that Pharmacy Co. That
is a mistake, for every dose I ever gave I prepared from the bean
myself. When such mistakes are made it leads one to doubt the
reliability of the medicines offered for sale.
A. M. Cushing, M. D.
Springfield, Mass.
(There is no " mistake " in the matter. The " Company '*
referred to has been pirating in this way for the past fifteen years,
and has been repeatedly shown up. ' ' They are out for the
stuff " and professional honor is not in their creed. Editor of the
Recorder.)
The Western New York Homoeopathic Medical Society at its
regular meeting in Buffalo, February 22, 1901, passed the follow-
ing:
"Resolved, That the Western New York Homoeopathic Med-
ical Society does most emphatically and unanimously protest
against the unwarranted, illegal and entirely unnecessary inter-
ference by the Executive Committee of the American Institute
of Homoeopathy with the action of the Institute in fixing the place
of meeting at Niagara Falls. We regard this action as an imper-
tinent assumption that the Institute did not know its own business
when it voted by a large majority, and after a fair and very full
discussed, to prefer Niagara Falls to all other places named, as
the best place for holding the Institute meeting in June, 1901."
"We have positive information that the facts as they exist at
Niagara Falls have been entirely misrepresented in the circular
letter sent by the Executive Committee. We can assure every
member of the Institute that ample accommodations will be afford-
ed all at Niagara at reasonable rates."
A copy of the.se resolutions, together with a circular letter
going over the whole ground, has been mailed to each member
of the Institute.
Alumni of the New York Homoeopathic Medical College, please
note that the date of the annual banquet is May 9th this year.
Editorial. 185
The place of meeting is Delmonico's and Dr. G. W*. Roberts will
act as Toastmaster.
All graduates are requested to join. Send applications to Dr.
E. S. Munson, Cor. Sec'y, 16 W. 45th St., New York.
March 7, 1901.
BOERICKE & TAFEL.
Gentlemen: — Please send me a copy of your new book cata-
logue, also one to my brother, who is located at Xo. 660 Massa-
chusetts avenue, Boston, Mass. I wish to have you place my
name on the waiting list for Dr. H. C. Allen's new work on in-
termitting fever. He informed me more than two years ago that
he was at work on it and asked me to be patient. I could not
wait for the new book, so continued my effort to obtain a copy of
the old. I finally succeeded in obtaining one from an old doctor
in one of the Western States; it cost me a five spot, and I would
not take ten times that for it if I could not get another. I am
pleased to know that Dr. Xash is at work on another book. I
learned more valuable Materia Medica from his Leaders than from
all the books in my library on that subject. Dr. Xash puts it in
a way that one can remember it and what Nash states you can tie
to every time. Very truly,
D. H. Swope.
107 Mai?i St., Brockton, Mass.
OBITUARY
Mr. R. B. French, for many years in the employ of Messrs.
Boericke & Tafei as traveling salesman, and father of Dr. M. R.
French, manager of that firm's Pittsburg branch, died on March
19. Mr. French was well and favorably known to physicians,
especially in the territory tributary to Chicago, and his visits will
be missed by many of them.
We acknowledge receipt of a new exchange, the Chikitsaka-
O-Samalochaka, edited by Dr. Satyakrishna Roy, of Calcutta.
We have no doubt it contains much interesting matter, but being
printed in the Indian it must remain a sealed book to occidental
eyes. May it succceed.
1 86 Editorial.
The Dominion Medical Monthly speaks of those " philan-
thropists ' ' who are whooping up the crusade to put consumption
in the same class as small-pox, etc., as striving " mightily among
themselves for the privilege of succoring him whom the new doc-
trines have made a pariah." No doubt they would be willing to
face the deadly risk of entering a State building jammed full of
these "pariahs." The "new doctrines" are great things, but
these expounders have very unscientifically stopped at the
" germ." Tell us what produces his nibs?
This is a clipping from the Sherman, Texas, Register:
Can't Supply the Demand.
Since the notice in the register appear-
ed regardiug Drs. Johnson and Pettitt's
Homoeopathic anti-vaccination remedy
recently, the doctors have made over two
hnndred prescriptions, many of them go-
ing to adjacent towns. In fact, the
demand has been so great that they have
been able to supply the demand.
The public would gladly welcome anything that would take
the place of the discomfort, to say nothing of the danger, of
vaccine virus. Malandrinum , Vaccininum, and Varioli?ium, 30th
potencies, have all been successfully used as prophylactics
against small-pox.
The Journal of American Medical Associatio?i tell us of "The
Etiology of Yellow Fever," according to the latest. The
mosquito is the cause. But to transmit the disease the mosquito
must have previously "fed on the blood of those sick with the
disease. As the disease is transmitted in this manner disinfection
is useless. The spread of the disease can be controlled by the
destruction of the mosquito."
All which is gravely submitted and with equal gravity ac-
cepted.
When there has been no cases of the disease at its home for a
few months one wonders where the mosquito gets his supply of
bacteria with which to resume business.
Also how the disease breaks out on ship-board in mid-ocean
where there are none of the insects.
Editorial. 187
Also why cleaning up a city seems to effectually stop the dis-
ease. Also several other queries needless to enumerate.
Perhaps further research will reveal a flaw in the conclusions
of Drs. Reed, Carroll and Agramonte.
Dr. J. F. Griffin, of Shreveport, La., contributes his ex-
perience to the mosquito-malaria theory. Last September he visited
the pine woods of Vernon Parish, La., and remained there for two
months. During that time he did not see or hear a mosquito, yet
treated twenty-five cases of malarial fever, and " none of these
persons has been exposed to the bites of mosquitoes." This is
fast bucking against theory. The latter, however, will, as it
usually does, airily ignore bullet headed fact.
A little free-lance journal, The Acologost says, of antitoxin:
" Personally I believe that diphtheria antitoxin is worth every
dollar the makers can can get for it in the market; therapeutically
I don't think it is any better than a five per cent, solution of car-
bolic acid, and the acid solution is infinitely cleaner and safer."
TOOTING.
A tutor who tooted the flute,
Tried to teach two young tutors to toot
Said the two to the tutor,
1 ' Is it harder to toot or
To tutor two tooters to toot ? "
Our ultra-scientific, always right up-to-date, front seat in the
scientific band-wagon, exchanges now all write of malaria,
"Which we now know is due to a blood parasite, introduced
through the agency of mosquitoes of the genus anopheles." But
do you "know" it? Isn't it just possible that you have all
scrambled to a hasty conclusion in order to be in the "van of
science," and that not one in a thousand "know" anything
about the matter, and may it not be that the one man in the
thousand is riding a hobby ?
What a jolly lot is the world and the doctors thereof! Poor
old Schuessler wrote his Abridged Therapy and thereby launched
1 88 Editorial.
his little medical theory, with what results the reader is probably
more or less familiar. Lately the eclectics, or some of them, have
taken up the "tissue remedies." One of them writes that you
can prescribe these remedies " without becoming a believer in the
rot and moonshine included in Schuesslerism," and prescribe
them on " well defined specific indications." This is unkind,
especially as he immediately proceeds to give those " specific in-
dications," and they are neither more nor less than that the " rot
and moonshine " found in Schuessler's Abridged Therapy. If a
man feels that his virtue demands that he should term a man a
"quack," in the name of decency do not steal the man's
" quackery " and parade it as " science." Where, for instance,
were the " specific indications" of Calcarea flttorica discovered?
The drug is not even mentioned in the latest eclectic dispensatory I
And then back of Schuessler looms the mighty shadeof Hahne-
man. And the best of the " specific indications " in some of the
"tissue remedies" will be found in his Materia Medica, old be-
fore " Schuesslerism " or eclecticism was born.
A jolly world for sure!
11 Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.
Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age;
Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I
am silent, and go bathe and admire myself."
— Whitman.
A CHANGE IN HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE
OF CHICAGO.
E. P. Anshutz, M. D., Editor.
My Dear Doctor: — I desire to call your attention to an import -
tant step which is about to be taken by the Hahnemann Medical
College and Hospital, of Chicago, in the matter of medical educa-
tion.
Beginning May ist of the present year, the work will be con-
ducted on the following plan: Three terms will be given each
year, any two of which will constitute a year's credit. Students
may enter at the beginning of any term. Each term will be com-
plete in itself. The work of the college is so arranged that the
subject is either given completely in one term or one-half of it is
given in one term and the other half in the next ensuing term.
The subjects which are given in two terms are always divided
Editorial. 189
into two parts. During each term work will be offered for the
first, second, third and fourth years. During- the summer term
special opportunities will be offered to practitioners for work in
the various clinical departments.
This new arrangement of the college work will present a num-
ber of advantages. First, the students may enter at three differ-
ent times during the year. Second, students may take their
vacations during any time of the year. Third, students may
graduate at the end of any term. Fourth, the college work is
available to practitioners during the summer months. Fifth.
laboratory classes will be smaller, making it possible to give each
student a greater amount of individual attention. Add to these
advantages the fact that Hahnemann Medical College conducts
the largest clinics of any homoeopathic college in the world; the
fact that it has put in service a new pathological laboratory dur-
ing the past year which is not surpassed in equipment by any
institution in the city, and that its other laboratories have been
increased in size and have received important additions to their
equipment, demonstrates that Hahnemann Medical College is
abreast of all the educational demands of the day, and that its
facilities are equalled by few and surpassed by no other college.
Trusting you will be able to make these facts known to your
numerous readers, and thanking you in advance for the courtesy
of such notice, I am,
Yours truly,
W. Hexrv Wilsox, Registrar.
Cxe of our esteemed exchanges says, M Mark Twain's remarks
before a legislative committee shows what a fool a man may make
of himself when he attempts to talk upon a subject he knows
nothing about." This Mark partly admits in his testimony be-
fore the committee when he told of his visit to an ostcepath, '' and
he did me a lot of good, as I thought, although I must admit that
my education doesn't qualify me to say just when I am in good
health. But I should like to have the right to experiment to my
heart's content." The latter clause contains the heart of the
whole quarrel: Medical liberty!
A Dr. J. C. Batesox, of Scranton, Pa., is out in an article on
" Homoeopathic Fallacies " in the Medical Adviser. The title of
the paper is its mildest feature. Here are a few specimens of its
tenor: " Whew ! Gusto ! Bosh !" " Bombast," " Hoo-doo-man "
1 90 Editorial.
" Humbuggery," " Mountebank statement." In fact the paper
is a good old fashioned allopathic war-whoop, in which the
ignorance of the subject of which it treats is only surpassed by
adjectives used as a vent to the writers feeling. Here is a speci-
men of what is advadced as fact in it: " In Germany, its birth
place, ' Homoeopathy ' is under the ban of the law, and the
system is universally condemned by the intelligent classes."
When a man can make such a statement, in the light of the facts
as they are known to be, he is unworthy of being taken seriously
— even by his own brethren of the "intelligent classes." The
Recorder has five German homoeopathic exchanges; there are,
as may be seen by the new directory, homoeopathic physicians in
all the larger towns in the country and it is an open secret among
well informed men that the homoeopaths have the majority of
the nobility for clients. Dr. Bates should take a reef in on his
In the California Medical Journal for April, Dr. W. S. Gibson,
of Sespe, Cal., writes indignantly of an article in Pediatrics of
December, by Dr. H. Illoway, wherein the latter announces the
discovery that Aconite and Veratrnm in small doses reduce the
temperature in fever and are altogether wonderful in their action,
At this "discovery" Dr. Gibson, as was said, waxes indignant
and refers him to the American Dispensatory of 1854, where that
"discovery" may be found. Dr. Gibson might have gone back
to the beginning of the century and referred Dr. Illoway to
Hahnemann's books wherein he would have found the original
discovery of how to use Aconite, told as it never will be told again.
This is important, if true, and is clipped from Health :
"It appears that two French physicians, Drs. Desgrez and
Balthazard, have accidently discovered that Bioxide of sodium has
such an avidity for carbon that it breaks up carbonic gas as
quickly as it is formed, combining with its carbon and setting
free oxygen. Animals have been enabled to live six and eight
times beyond the atmospheric limits in hermetically sealed recep-
tacles because of the presence of a block of Sodium bioxide in the
same chamber with them. Men have been lowered into the water
encased with diver's helmets lined with Sodium bioxide, and have
been able to stay below with perfect comfort several times longer
than would otherwise be possible. So long as any of this sub-
stance remains, the air is sure to remain pure. If these claims
should prove to be true, they will revolutionize many things that
Editorial. 191
at first seem to be unaffected by it. Many a mine horror could
be averted if each worker carried with him some of this substance.
The purification of the air in dwellings, public institutions and
conveyances, and under all circumstances of human crowding,
would always be assured if Sodium dioxide were kept on hand. It
would be to respiration what the X-ray is to sight."
Dr. Frank Kraft makes the following comments on Burnett's
last book, and its author, on the curing of tonsils by medicines
instead of ripping them out:
This is another vest-pocket book from the same old terse and
agreeable fund of medical anecdotes and experiences with which.
Dr. Burnett is so thoroughly saturated. He always gives a small
book; but that small book always, too, gives about all there is to
be said on the subject. His style is argumentative, and yet so
very pleasant and convincing that when once you open any one
of his booklets, and permit your mind to follow on a page or two-
you won't be able to let it go. You will have to finish the book.
Thus it was with that most charming of all his long list of little
books, his " Fifty Reasons for Being a Homoeopath;" and much
the same with his other books. We have in times gone by seen
criticisms in our contemporary journals that Burnett's geese are
all swans; that he cures everything, and never misses the bull's-
eye. To a reader only this may so seem; but to those who know
him personally, as happens to be our good fortune, and who also
know his comrades and brethern who are with him every day of
the year, and know him and his work well, this belief in the
swansomeness of his geese is not carried out. He is a successful
physician and is truthfnl in the highest degree in the record of his
cases. Hence his books, made up of cases cured, are trustworthy
and may be accepted in the spirit in which they are written.
E?ilarcred Tonsils Cured by Medicines, however, ought not to cause
the ordinary homoeopath, modern or remote, any great trouble.
There are many of us remaining in the school who believe in the
efficacy of the homoeopathic remedy in such conditions and who
have never yet resorted to the tonsillotome. Dr. Burnett has one
flagrant fault, and the next time we sit with our feet under the
same mahogany with him, and the other jolly crew, we will tell
him so to his face: and that is, that he uses so many remedies
with which we on this side of the pond are not familiar. We
would suggest that when he writes for an American readership
that he append little stars and foot-notes to these odd and singular
remedies and help us over the trouble of guessing at the com-
ponent parts of the drug. The cases reported in this his latest
book are graphically depicted and will help many of us busy
workers out of a bad hole. Boericke & Tafel have done the
usual good bit of mechanical work on this book and are to be con-
gratulated upon adding another good homoeopathic work to the
vear's list."
PERSONALS.
Several of our orthodox exchanges are full of controversy as to whether it
is smallpox or " Cuban itch." Can't be very serious.
The Indiana Institute of Homoeopathy will meet some time in May. H.
H. Baker, M. D., Muncie, Ind., secretary.
The " contagion and contagiousness of personality" is a new domain
opening before us.
A Colorado editor says: " Hell fire is health fire when you know how to
handle it." Hence, " wild and woolly."
Do you know that the X in "X-rays" stands the symbol for " un-
known ? "
Where the osteopaths receive State recognition they become virtuous and
sternly resist the encroachments of all quacks.
" Dr. " Geo. W. Carey has given up spook healing and is now turning
out ' ' biochemic doctors ' ' by mail at $10.00 per ' ' doctor. ' '
Dr. C. W. Baird has located in Oklahoma City.
Annual Reunion of the Alumni Association of Hahnemann Medical Col-
lege will be held, on May 15, at Philadelphia, W. D. Carter, M. D., 1533 S.
Fifteenth street, secretary.
Forty-sixth Session of Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association will
meet at Chicago, May 7-9.
Dr. Kelly says that rheumatic gout is a "germ disease." Quarantine the
old sinners!
One of our esteemed writes of " unlicensed healing! "
First 10 per cent, semi-annually. Now 5 per cent. Finally?
Yes, Mary Ann, a fountain when playing is working; an amusing
paradox.
Utah passed a bill abolishing compulsory vaccination, the Governor
vetoed the bill and the Legislature passed it over his veto.
It is always well to remember that a man isn't as big as he thinks he is.
" The world is a beautiful book, but of use to him who cannot read it."
Yes, John, the feminine of a vehicle is miscarriage.
Saith wise Don Quixote: " Every man is the son of his own works."
" We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced danger"
Rochefoucauld.
The day of the sword has passed, it is now a mere ornament.
What is political science to one man is "all blankety blank rot" to
another.
When we have " opened our mouth and put our foot in it " we realize the
goldenness of silence.
Subscribe for the Recorder.
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa, MAY, 1901 No. 5
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Twelfth Annual Session.
The Americau Institute of Homoeopathy held its first meeting
of the twelfth annual session in Buffalo, N. Y. , on Wednesday
morning, June 6, 1855, being called to order by the General Sec-
retary, Samuel S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn. After the calling of
the roll, and the making of necessary corrections in names and
residences, the election of officers was held. C. H. Skiff, M. D.,
of New Haven, Conn., was elected President; J. P. Dake, M. D.,
of Pittsburg, Pa., General Secretary; A. H. Beers, M. D., of
Buffalo, N. Y., Provisional Secretary; and Samuel S. Guy, M.
D., of Brooklyn, L. I., Treasurer.
The Board of Censors were Lyman Clary, M. D., Syracuse,
N. Y.; Samuel Gregg, M. D., Boston, Mass.; N. H. Warner, M.
D., Buffalo, N. Y.; Horatio Robinson, M. D., Auburn, N. Y.;
and Lewis Dodge, M. D., Cleveland, O.
The Committee, appointed by the Chairman to audit the Treas-
urer's account was F. Humphreys, M. D., Auburn, N. Y. ; F. R.
McManus, M. D., Baltimore, Md.; C. M. Dake, M. D., Geneseo,
N. Y.; Geo. F. Foote, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y.; and Durfee Chase,
M. D., Palmyra, N. Y., to whom the Treasurer's report was sub-
mitted, and by them found correct.
The meeting then adjourned to reassemble at three o'clock, when
Samuel Gregg, M. D., the Committee on ''The Nature, Pathol-
ogy, and Homoeopathic Treatment of Diseases of the . Urinary
Organs," offered a plausible and acceptable excuse for being un-
194 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
able to render a satisfactory report. The doctor said that his
personal practice in the treatment of such diseases was so limited
that he could not supply an original experience upon the subject,
and that far superior articles than he could possibly offer had
been so often published that he asked to be discharged from
further duty in that line. His apology was accepted and pub-
lished with the other reports.
J. P. Dake, M. D., Committee on "The Value of Clinical Ex-
perience and of Clinical Reports to Homoeopathy and Its Prac-
titioners," gave a full and wisely adaptable treatise upon this
subject, which was published in the proceedings.
F. Humphreys, M. D., Chairman of the Central Bureau, pre-
sented a report, which was accepted and ordered to be printed,
but failed to appear in the proceedings.
Being also Chairman of the Committee on Treasurer's Accounts,
Dr. Humphreys reported upon the financial condition of the In-
stitute, which report was filed but not published.
S. B. Barlow, M. D., Committee on "Cholera," being absent,
there was no report.
The Committee on " Blisters " and on the " Translation of the
Materia Medica Pura ' ' made no reports, and were therefore dis-
charged from further duties.
I. M. Ward, M. D., Committee on " Mechanical Supports and
Bandages," was absent, and returned no report.
C. D. Williams, M. D., Committee on "Small Pox," was
absent, and did not report.
A. K. Small, M. D., Committee on "Diseases of the Respira-
tory Organs," was also absent, and made no report.
D. Cowley, M. D. , Secretary of the American Provers' Union,
made a very satisfactory report of the work accomplished during
the year, which was published in the proceedings.
Lyman Clary, M. D., Chairman of the Board of Censors,
reported a number of physicians as fully qualified for member-
ship, and they were elected. Their names were:
Lorenzo M. Kenyon, M. D., Westfield, N. Y.; I. W. Coman,
M. D., Buffalo, N. Y.; Rollin R. Gregg, M. D., Canandaigua,
N. Y.; I. J. Meachem, M. D., Nunda, N. Y.; C. A. Dake, M.
D., Warsaw, N. Y.; A. R. Morgan, M. D., Syracuse, N. Y.; D.
A. Baldwin, M. D., Rochester, N. Y. ; George W. Lewis, M. D.,
Buffalo, N. Y.; A. W. Gray, M. D., Jamestown, N. Y.; Louis
De V. Wilder, M. D., Geneva, N. Y.; A. B. M'Chesney, M. D.,
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 195
Quiiicy, 111.; B. Finke, M. D., Brooklyn, L. I.; Hiram C.
Driggs, M. D., Detroit, Mich.; and Joel Bryant, M. D., Brooklyn,
L. I.
There having been some damaging reports circulated regarding
the transactions carried on by Frederick Humphreys, M. D., a
motion was made by Geo. F. Foote, M. D., and seconded by
Dr. Humphreys, that a committee be appointed by the Chair to
investigate and report concerning the rumors afloat, charging
Frederick Humphreys, M. D., with irregularities in the practice
of Homoeopathic Medicine.
The Committee was F. R. McManus, M. D.; C. M. Dake, M.
D.; and Geo. F. Foote, M. D., whose inquiry led to a full proof
of Dr. Humphreys' very dishonorable and unprofessional conduct,
and to his effectual conviction, through which he was expelled
from the Institute. An exhaustive account of the whole proceed-
ing was published in the Proceedings of the Institute, from which
we copy the subjoined: " Your Committee are convinced that the
course of practice pursued by Dr. Humphreys is at variance with
the dignified professional course of honorable practitioners by the
manner of his publications; and is entirely subversive of the pure,
legitimate, and safe practice of the Hohiceopathic Healing Art,
by mixing in one pill or prescription several different medicines.
Your Committee, in conclusion, feel deeply sensible of the
responsibility devolving upon them in the investigation of this
matter, and, after mature deliberation, recommend the adoption of
an expulsory resolution."
F. R. McManus, M. D., read this report; its acceptation was
followed by a preamble and resolution, which were adopted after
a protracted discussion by Dr. Humphreys against Drs. Gregg,
Guy, Dodge, McManus, Foote, Clary, Dake, and M'Chesney.
The preamble and resolution were: "In view of the facts set
forth by our committee, and from our total unwillingness to have
any part in, or to give any countenance to, the undertaking of Dr.
Frederick Humphreys in the manufacture and sale of his ' New
Era or Specific Homoeopathic Remedies,' Resolved, That we now
expel him from our membership."
Dr. Humphreys asked the privilege of withdrawing from the
Institute, to save further discussion or action. But such an action
being contrary to the usages of all such societies, under similar
circumstances, his request was refused, though the Institute
patiently awaited the doctor's defense. In this, he claimed that
196 America) i Institute of Homoeopathy.
the Institute had neither Article nor By-Law authorizing the ex-
pulsion of a member, and that he had not departed from the object
of the Society, which was the improvement of the Science of
Medicine, and he likewise claimed that he had made discoveries
and had found a new and better method of preparing and dis-
pensing medicines for domestic and general use.
Samuel Gregg, M. D., contended that every society had an
established right to expel a member who was discovered in acts
which were detrimental to its interests, and that no medical
society, with which he was ever acquainted, had ever permitted a
member to retain his position after he engaged in the manufacture
and sale of nostrums or private remedies.
S. S. Guy, M. D., contended that if Dr. Humphreys had made
important discoveries, it was his duty, being a member of the
Institute, to communicate his ideas to the Society and allow all to
join in the work of improvement, instead of beginning at once to
prepare privately, advertise boldly and sell the fruits of his
boasted discoveries as all quacks do their nostrums.
J. P. Dake, M. D., said that Dr. Humphreys' style of action
was not only a violation of honor between himself and all the
members of the Institute, but also a violation of the Homoeopathic
Law upon which the Science of Medicine, as adopted by the
Institute, was established. He said, that, though Dr. Humphreys
acknowledged the law in words, he rendered it null and void by
his methods of practice, by combining several medicines in one
pill, the compound action of which on the human system he did
not understand, and by indicating the disease by a name only
instead of the symptoms of a diseased condition.
F. R. McManus, M. D., expressed the belief that while Dr.
Humphreys' method might be a fine pecuniary speculation, it
would retard instead of aiding the object for which the Society
worked — the improvement of Medical Science.
Dr. Dodge made a resolution which was unanimously adopted.
"That the Institute cannot view the advertising of remedies as
nostrums, or the combining of several medicines in one prescrip-
tion, in any other light than as irregular practice, and subversive
of the best interests of Homoeopathy, and that we will not toler-
ate in our membership one guilty of such practice. So ended the
controversy which denied further membership to Dr. Humphreys,
who preferred to hold to his unauthorized methods of dispensing
his so styled Homoeopathic Specifics.
American Institute oj Homoeopathy. 197
On Wednesday evening at 7:30 o'clock, the assemblage to hear
the address of J. H. Pulte, M. D., was so small that its delivery-
was postponed until Thursday evening. This state of affairs was
brought about by a mistake in advertising, but the members of
the Institute and their ladies, being invited by Dr. N. H. Warner
to accept his hospitality, enjoyed a pleasant evening at his house,
thus obtaining more than they had expected in the line of enter-
taiment.
On Thursday morning at 9 o'clock the meeting convened with
the President in the chair.
B. F. Bowers, M. D., presented a report in reference to the
comparison of Allopathic and Homoeopathic Treatment in the
Orphan Asylums of New York, which was accepted and ordered
to be printed. In the report, among other data, the doctor stated
that for five consecutive years there had been no death in the
Protestant Half Orphan Asylum, which was under homoeopathic
supervision. In four asylums, under allopathic treatment, sixty-
five deaths had been reported for 1853 and 1854, a period of only
two years.
A letter from Wm. Springer, M. D., Corresponding Secretary
of the Provincial Homoeopathic Medical Society of Canada, was
received, announcing the organization of the Homceopathists of
Canada into the above named society, with Dr. Fisher, of
Montreal, President, and Dr. A. N. Woolverton, of Hamilton,
Vice-President. The communication was printed in the Proceed-
ings of the Institute.
A communication from William H. Ash, of New York, was
ordered to be filed.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., was not present, but his very fine "Ad-
dress to the Homoeopathic Physicians of the United States " was
read by the Secretary and printed in the transactions. In this
address the doctor ably discussed the manner by which the
Science of Medicine might be improved and expounded with great
earnestness, the vast care that homoeopathic physicians should
take in watching every minutia of the effects of medicine used by
them, trusting to no empiricism, but adhering faithfully to the
law which governs Homoeopathy, its therapeutics and its pure
Science of Medicine.
On motion of Samuel S. Guy, M. D., the Secretary was in-
structed to have two thousand copies of this address printed for
distribution among the homoeopathic physicians both at home
and abroad.
198 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Samuel Gregg, M. D., read a report from the Massachusetts
Homoeopathic Medical Society which was accepted and printed in
the transactions. In this report, W. F. Jackson, M. D., Secre-
tary of the Society, gave an account of their very pleasant and
well attended meeting in celebration of the birthday of Hahne-
mann, on April 10, 1855. He also mentioned the rather dis-
heartening failure of the plan to obtain a charter for a homoeo-
pathic hospital in Boston, but spoke 'hopefully of anticipated
success in their next attempt in the coming year.
The Hahnemann Society of Cincinnati sent a report which was
printed in the proceedings. The communication announced the
formation of that Society upon the anniversary of Hahnemann's
birth, April 10, 1855, it being deemed a graceful tribute to the
centennial anniversary of Hahnemann's natal day. The letter
proposed the establishment of a Central Homoeopathic Pharmacy
from which physicians, from all parts of the country, should be
able to procure pure drugs; and also suggested that a full list of
the homoeopathic physicians in the United States, Canada and the
West Indies should be obtained as nearly as practicable.
J. P. Dake, M. D., offered a substitute for Article 9 of the By-
Laws, which was: " There shall be a committee of three on Clin-
ical Experience appointed annually, whose duty it shall be to
receive and report at each meeting, accounts of cases treated and
cured Homoeopathically. ' ' This was adopted and the Chair ap-
pointed as that Committee, Samuel Gregg, M. D., of Boston,
Mass.; Samuel S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, L. I., and J. P.
Dake, M. D., of Pittsburgh, Pa.
F. R. McManus, M. D., offered the following resolution:
That the Treasurer of the Institute be requested to furnish, at
the next meeting, a list of the names of delinquent members and
the sum in which each stands indebted to the Institute. This
was adopted.
Lyman Clary, M. D., Chairman of the Committee on Scientific
Subjects, reported:
I. M. Ward, M. D., on " The Value and Uses of Mechanical
Supports, etc., in Homoeopathic Practice."
N. H. Warner, M. D., on "Cholera."
Richard Gardiner, M. D., on " Small-pox."
I. T. Talbot. M. D., on " Diseases of the Respiratory Organs."
H. Robinson, M. D., on " Herpes, etc."
L. Dodge. M. D., and William A. Gardiner, M. D., on " Medi-
cal Education."
American Institute of Ho7noeopathy. 199
The Chair appointed Henry D. Paine, M. D., of Albany, to
deliver the annual address in 1856, with D. M. Dake, M. D., of
Pittsburg, as his alternate.
The thanks of the Institute were tendered to C. H. Skiff,
M. D., its President, and to S. S. Guy, M. D., General Secre-
tary, for their efficient services; to Dr. Warner and lady for their
kind hospitality; to Mr. Haskins, of the "Daily Democracy,"
for his reports of the meetings, and to all for their fathful at-
tendance.
The Committee of Arrangements appointed for the next meet-
ing was J. R. Piper, M.D., and J. Green, M.D., of Washington, and
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore. The Institute adjourned
to meet again in Washington, D. C, on the first Wednesday in
June, 1856.
On Thursday evening the members of the Institute and their
friends met to listen to the postponed address prepared by J. H.
Pulte, M. D., and read by Dr. Foote.
The subject was " Civilization and Its Heroes," and from be-
ginning to end it teemed with noble thoughts.
Dr. Pulte began by speaking of Nature appearing to have per-
petual life from her constant rejuvenation of herself, while the
original created type and form maintained their character and
beauty through the ages.
Man, however, was evanescent, a few years of life and he dis-
appeared. When woman was given to man society began. To
the intellect of man was given the moral sentiment of woman.
History, he said, had no death. Collective man as mankind
accomplishes what savage or solitary man cannot do. It estab-
lishes mind over matter, causing the perishable to create the im-
perishable. History is thus created.
This edifice is indestructible and rests on the two pillars of
Family and State, each having its own special duties.
Civilization had advanced on the two elements — the physical
and the intellectual.
Among the Heroes of Civilization he named Schwartz, the dis-
coverer of gunpowder; Guttemberg, who gave wings to matter
and ubiquity to thought, by making types movable, and Luther,
who stormed the Bastile of the Vatican, opened the gates and
released from valueless dogmas the intellect of those so long en-
thralled.
Everything had been placed upon scientific principles except
200 Progressive Muscular Atrophy.
Medicine, which kept in the old Galenic tracks, repeating over
and over the systems of former ages.
When Samuel Hahnemann, in 1790, discovered the great law
of cure, Medicine took a higher stand among the natural sciences
and thenceforward became an exact science.
Dr. Pulte referred to the century of development of the system
as one of remarkable activity, and said that Homoeopathy in this
pivot centuiy celebrates its jubilee and enjoys brilliant expecta-
tions of truth triumphant.
He advised his brethren to follow Hahnemann's example of un-
ceasing investigation.
Having entered the second Hahnemannian century he bid it a
" heartfelt and sincere God speed."
It being the centennial year of Hahnemann's existence, the
author closed his theme with a pleasing reference to the founder
for the broad, noble and self-abnegating gift which he had dis-
covered and given to the world.
The address, printed in full in the transactions of the Insti-
tute, is well worth careful perusal.
A vote of thanks was presented to Dr. Pulte, and a thousand
copies were ordered to be printed for distribution to the members
of the Institute.
PROGRESSIVE MUSCULAR ATROPHY.
By E. R. Mclntyre, B. S., M. D., Professor of Neurology
in Dunham Medical College of Chicogo.
It is not my purpose to give the profession anything new re-
garding either the pathology or treatment of this most formidable
disease. Dr. T. F. Allen reports a case in the Recorder for
April, 1 90 1, in which he took the diagnosis of " Eminent Spe-
cialists," and made a most brilliant cure with Phosphorus 7 cent.
However, I am obliged to dissent from the diagnosis, notwith-
standing it was made by "eminent specialists;" also from the
parenthetical phrase by Dr. Allen — " If there be any satisfactory
pathology known." There is scarcely a disease in the whole
work of the neurologist whose pathology is known better. The
primary lesion in progressive muscular atrophy is a gradual de-
generation of the ganglion cells of the anterior horns of the gray
Progressive Muscular Atrophy. 201
matter of the spinal cord. No other part of the cord is ever in-
volved. Hence there are not and could not be sensory symptoms
of any kind produced by this lesion. Since these ganglion cells
in both horns are involved, and they control the nutrition of the
muscles, the symptoms are always bilateral, the one side being in-
volved but slightly in advance of the other. The first and only
symptom if uncomplicated muscular atrophy is expressed in the
name, slowly progressing atrophy of muscles in nerve relation to
the segments of the cord involved. This is rarely noticed by the
patient until weakness of the part attracts his attention.
There is never any true paralysis; but the weakness is in ratio
to the destruction of muscle.
Now let us review the symptoms of the case. ' ' Pains in right
shoulder, which increased until her arm became helpless; the
muscles about the shoulder and right side, chest and back, wasted
so that the whole region became perceptibly emaciated, the sub-
clavicular region especially sunken; the shoulder drooped, and if
the arm were permitted to hang down, the humerus would
actually slip out of its socket, often causing extra pain in the
axilla and shoulder; it became impossible to put her hand to her
head, so that she could not put up her hair, nor could she dress
herself. The wasting and powerlessness involved at least the
whole shoulder region of right side of body, pectoral, scapular
and axillary regions, and the arm as far as the elbow. Soon the
trouble invaded the forearm and also began to show itself in the
right hip and thigh. The pain was a constant dull ache, becom-
ing, on motion, a sharp shooting; the pain was worse at night;
in a wind; in the cold; on uncovering; and when lying on the
right or painful side."
There are several conditions which cause muscular atrophy,
each differing materially from all the others in its clinical aspects.
Anterior polio-myelitis is bilateral, is a disease of childhood, and
the atrophy is always preceded by fever and paralysis. There is
no pain.
Spinal meningitis may, in some rare cases, be unilateral, but
produces fever and pain in the spine, worse on the least twisting
of the spine. Amytrophic lateral sclerosis produces contracture
of the flexor muscles of the hand and wrist, resulting in the
characteristic deformity of the hand; but no pain.
Progressive muscular atrophy is bilateral, while this disease
was unilateral, being confined to the right side. Progressive mus-
202 Progressive Muscular Atrophy.
cular atrophy is not accompanied by pain, and the atrophy in
almost every case begins in the small muscles of one hand to be
followed in a very short time by the same condition in like mus-
cles of the other hand, then the deltoids, etc.
Lesions involving the peripheral nerves may be unilateral, and
since sensory, motor and trophic fibres are found in the same
nerve trunks we get sensory, motor and trophic symptoms in the
parts supplied by the diseased nerves.
This is the only possible condition that could produce the symp-
tom-picture presented in Dr. Allen's case if our anatomy and
physiology count for anything.
Dr. Allen made a fine cure and should receive due credit there-
for. But he took the other fellows diagnosis and did not cure a
case of progressive muscular atrophy at all, which has not yet
been cured for the very obvious reason that neither the patient nor
the doctor is aware of its existence until the ganglion cells are
destroyed. Man can not restore them.
My object in writing this article is to warn the profession
against promising the impossible, because of carelessness regard-
ing pathological conditions. No man has greater faith in the
indicated remedy than I, but it cannot accomplish the impos-
sible, nor is it all that is necessary to have for the treatment of
man}7 cases.
Many cases are reported that are misleading and can only re-
sult in harm. A year or two ago a doctor in Wisconsin reported
a case of one of her feline patients that had been so unfortunate
as to get a fish-bone lodged in its throat. The doctor proceeded
to administer Sulphur cm., one dose. The report said: "The
bone ulcerated out, the wound healed up and haired over." Then
the doctor discourses very learnedly on the action of Sulphur in
such cases.
The question is what would have been the result if no Sulphur
had been given ? The bone would have ulcerated out, the wound
healed up and haired over just as it did.
But suppose some some poor fellow sees that report, and hav-
ing a bone lodged in a baby's throat tries the treatment. The
baby is easier to kill than the cat; the bone would not ulcerate
out, the wound heal up and hair over, but the undertaker will
get the baby and the doctor who wrote the article is responsible.
Malar ioics Fever. 203
MALARIOUS FEVER.
Eupatorium Perfoliatum in Dumb Ague.
By B. B. Shaha.
A native of Goldsmith class, aged 42 years, came under my
treatment on 3d February last. He was suffering from this
malady for a month. He was under some allopathic doctors of
Calcutta, but no perceptible improvement did he find in their
treatment. Next he came to me wTith the following symptoms:
Type — Tertian. Fever at 8 A. m. ; thirst insatiable; drinking
hastens chill; bone pains in extremities; throbbing headache;
sweat scanty; jaundice hue of skin, etc., etc. Eup. per/. 3,
three times a day, perfectly cured the patient in four days, and no
relapse since then.
Nux Vomica and Ipecac in Malarial Fever.
Ashu, a Hindu of 28 years, was suffering from malarious fever
since November last. The origin of this fever is his native land
(a malarious country), where he had been for a month only, but
when he was brought down to Calcutta he was suffering from
fever. Several attempts were made to cure the patient, but the
result was not satisfactory. He was under a Kabiraj for a month,
but to no effect. He had been to some allopathic doctors, who
stuffed him with Quinine; but the cure was only temporary, the
fever used to relapse once a week. Next patent fever mixtures
were tried; the result was same as before. The guardian of the
patient had a firm belief that in cases of " fever " homoeopathic
medicines cannot do any good, and they are of no use. It is
suitable in cases of bowel complaints.
Last of all he came to me in January last, and I found him in
the greatest agony. Jaundiced appearance; bowel constipated;
urine high colored; pains in liver and spleen; very bad taste in
the mouth; everything tastes bitter; no appetite, etc.
One dose of Ipecac in the morning and Nux vom. at night
cured him in a week before the eyes of his guardian and allopath
doctors, who spared no pains to bring him round by means of
Quinine and other Indian drugs. Up to date he has no relapse of
the fever, and he is enjoying good healt4h.
There will be no difficulty of my fellow brethren to understand
how and why these two common medicines acted so miraculously.
Calcutta, March 7, 18 91.
204 Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
SOME OF THE RELATIONS OF DISEASES TO ONE
ANOTHER AND TO THE BODY THEY AFFECT.
By Dr. M. R. Leverson.
Paper read before the Hahnemannian Union, March 30, 1901.
The discussion of the meeting of this Society on February 23d,
an abstract of which has been read from our minutes, is sug-
gestive of a very large field for useful study, and I propose to
consider a part of one of the many aspects from which it might
be discussed, viz.: "Some of the Relations of Diseases to One
Another and to the Body They Affect."
Now the first thing to do in entering upon this study is to get
rid of the notion that disease is an entity — a thing.
This erroneous notion is entertained almost universally by the
dominant school of medicine and, I fear, to a great extent by
many who deem themselves followers of the principles of Hahne-
mann. It is the corner-stone of the Pasteurians and obscures and
obstructs the progress of the healing art. It must be abandoned
before a correct appreciation of the fundamental bases of healing
can be understood.
The dictum of the celebrated Dr. G. Robin, " Omne Vivum ex
Vivo," is most probably true, though the question of spontane-
ous generation is not absolutely settled. Able men of science,
and among them Dr. J. Hensel, the physiological chemist, still
maintain its possibility, and the experiments of Tyndal are not,
as is sometimes alleged, exhaustive and conclusive.
But the dictum of Robin, though probably true, has been ex-
tended without any warrant to cover the case of disease, under
the mystical notion that disease was some way or other not only
a thing, but a living thing.
Dr. Bechamp, in his thirty-first letter to Dr. Ed. Fournie
(p. 424), says: " Nothing is susceptible of sickness or death
except what is endowed with organization and life."
This statement is seen at once to be axiomatic and exhibits at
the same time the erroneous character of the entity notion of dis-
ease; yet, upon this paralogical belief, the germ theory finds its
strongest support and has caused a wide departure from the best
principles of healing. I do not mean those of Hahnemann only,
but even of those which prevailed among the more enlightened
Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another. 205
physicians before the time of Hahnemann. Under the impulsion
of this mysterious belief or superstition, instead of seeking- to
learn the causes which produce abnormal conditions, i. e., dis-
ease, in the living body, skilled effort has been directed to keep
away the supposed parent of the thing to which a name is given
as a thing instead of a condition.
The suggestion of Dr. Baylies that certain positions mentioned
by him would imply a hypothesis that all diseases are identical,
modified only by the organisms through which they make them-
selves manifest, seems to me to be a large adumbration of the
truth, but could not be true if disease was a thing. Virchow's
cellular pathology was a necessary precursor to the discoveries
and theories of Bechamp. Bechamp' s discoveries, with which his
colleague at the school of Montpelier, Prof. Kstor, is inseparably
connected, were first combated and denied, and afterwards im-
pudently "appropriated" by the great appropriator, Pasteur, but
were distorted by him into all sorts of incongruous statements in
order to support his ill-founded theories. He and his followers
have sought by every means to drown in obscurity alike the name
and discoveries of those great students of nature, but, fortunately,
they are being redeemed from oblivion by the labors of ardent
searchers after truth and lovers of humanity. Among these, Dr.
Boucher and Dr. Grasset have done most to recall attention to the
labors of the Professors Bechamp and Estor and of their pupils.
In 1884, Bechamp established the fact that fermentation is an
act of cell nutrition. Each cellule lives in a manner similar to a
globule of yeast. Each cell modifies for its use the nutritious
matters of its environment, and these modifications are due to fer-
ments. But Bechamp and Estor demonstrated that the cell is not
the vital unit, but is an aggregation of much smaller units which,
after the disintegration of the cell, evolve into different forms, as
vibrios or bacteria, to return to the unitary form, the microzyma,
which has been called micrococcus by the Germans and mici'obe
by the Pasteurians. The physiological unit of Spencer and the
gemule of Darwin have proved useful working hypotheses, but
they are theoretical units at the best, while the microzymas of
Bechamp are the subjects of actual observation.
The microzymas are the ferments by means whereof the ag-
glomeration of vital atoms of living molecular granulations, viz.,
the cells, receive their nutriment. They are true ferments,
though, by the way, the term "ferments" is a bad one. Diges-
206 Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
tion, whether massive or molecular, is a process of fermentation
or. perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that the phenomena
of fermentation are phenomena of nutrition. A process of fermen-
tation goes on in a sick body as well as in a healthy one. In the
former, the microzymas take on a morbid condition and may
carry that condition through the air. They owe their morbific
qualities to the sick body which has produced them; they are not
special parasites, but are the products of the abnormal conditions.
If now the air be greatly charged with these morbiforous microzy-
mas, they may induce in the atmosphere that condition which the
great Sydenham denominated "An Epidemic Constitution of the
Atmosphere." Neither microzymas nor microbes are the gener-
ators or causes of disease, but they may carry it (a noteworthy
distinction), and, when existing in the atmosphere in larger
quantities than the air can cure — for pure atmosphere is the
greatest of all purifiers — and are inhaled by a susceptible body,
i. e., one of low vitality or living in anti-hygienic conditions, dis-
ease may be thereby induced.
To this extent only do I conceive that anything in the nature
of infection or contagion exists, though if morbiforous microzy-
mas be inoculated upon an animal disease will also be generally
produced thereby. But atmospheric conditions conducive to this
or that condition of ill health, that is to say, Sydenham's " Epi-
demic Constitution of the Atmosphere," arise more frequently
from telluric conditions; but as to what these conditions are we
know very little more than was known in Sydenham's time. And
the reason for such continued ignorance is not far to find.
Real scientific research, which ought to have been directed to
the investigation of matters so important to our race, has been
per force expended in laying bare the jumble of sham science
which has threatened and still threatens its destruction. It has
already produced a degeneration in it, in spite of immense ad-
vances in sanitary conditions in other directions; and such jumble
of sham science would long since have passed into the limbo of
bygone medical fads but for the enormous pecuniary interests in
their maintenance which nefarious legislation has created, and
by which these mad theories have been erected into a medical
State creed.
Certain facts which, through the practices of vaccinists, have
frequently presented themselves to the thoughtful observer
strongly support the doctrine of the interchangeability of diseased
Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another. 207
conditions, but always pursuant to some law, though that law has
not yet been formulated in words.
Deceived by the cunning device of Jenner in giving to cowpox,
without the slightest explanation or justification, the name of
<( Small-pox of the Cow," many estimable physicians concluded
that cowpox was really small-pox of the cow, and that, therefore,
would be protective against that disease; an assumption, by the
way, which involved another superstitious belief, still vaguely
held by some physicians, viz., that small-pox is auto-protective.
Guided by these two superstitions, attempts were made to raise
the vaccine poison by inoculating the cow with small-pox poison.
The extreme difficulty which was experienced in producing any
disease upon the cow with the small-pox poison ought to have
been proof to the experimenters that small-pox is a disease foreign
to the bovine race, and that the name of " variola vaccine" was
not warranted by the facts and could have only been adopted
either ignorantly or for the purpose of deception.* But only a
few medical men had sufficient knowledge of pathology or of
biology to appreciate the lesson so taught. Sometimes when the
small-pox poison was inoculated upon the cow an ulcer was pro-
duced and, losing sight of the fact that it generally failed to pro-
duce any result, this ulcer was hailed as veritable small-pox and
as establishing the identity of the two diseases. When the poison
of this ulcer was inoculated directly upon human beings it pro-
duced small-pox, and several epidemics of small-pox were so pro-
duced. When, instead of using the poison from the ulcer pro-
duced by the small-pox inoculation upon the cow with which to
inoculate a human being, it was used to inoculate another cow,
and so on for four or five removes, the resulting ulcer, when its
poison was inoculated upon a human, generally produced not
small-pox but cowpox. Sometimes, however, a case of reversion
analagous to atavism and resulting from the same causef would
occur, and the so-called lymph, after producing the cowpox
chancre for several removes or generations, will suddenly produce
small-pox. There are many instances on record of such happen-
9L
*Dr. Crookshank, in his "History and Pathology of Vaccination," by
simply and dispassionately relating the historical facts connected with the
publication of Jenner's "Inquiry," has conclusively exposed the cunning
fraud committed by Jenner in styling cowpox " Small-pox of the Cow."
fThis cause is the persistence of the microzymas of the original cell.
208 Sonic of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
ings, and doubtless many cases of small-pox, which arise in spite
of good hygienic surroundings, owe their origin to the long-ago
small-pox poison inoculated upon the cow. This is no more to
be wondered at than any other case of reversion, for it is to be
remembered that there is a good deal of evidence tending to
establish as a fact that the most minute atom of the fluids of any
animal contains a representative of every material part and of
every quality and property of such animal; every cell is built up
by its own microzymas, and when it multiplies, either by genera-
tion or by sporulation, the microzymas also persist and multiply.
The ulcer produced by inoculating cowpox upon a human
being presents during only a very short period of its history any
resemblance to the small-pox pustule, but in nearly all respects
resembles the venereal chancre, and is followed, in a very much
larger number of cases than is generally suspected, by lesions
resembling those of venereal origin.
Here, then, we observe a heretofore unexpected result of inoc-
ulating a poison foreign to the animal, and then inoculating
animals of the same species with the poison of the lesions pro-
duced by the first inoculation. Gradually the poison not proper
to the animal produces disease in it, which takes on the form of
the ulcer proper to that animal, and when this evolution is com-
pleted the poison from it, when inoculated upon man, takes on
the form proper to the human race, which in the case of disease
derived from the cow resembles syphilis.
A corollary from these facts is that experiments upon animals
differing in species from man, performed or proposed as a guide
to either human pathology or therapeutics, are more likely to be
misleading than to serve any useful purpose.
In an interview, reported with unusual intelligence in the Xew
York Sun of the 27th of January last, I gave what seemed to me
the true interpretation of the great increase in the disease called
cancer among all the vaccinating nations since the superstitious
practice of inoculating bovine disease upon human beings became
general. Before such a body as this I may go into more technical
details than befitted an article intended for the general reader. I
accept the theory of Dr. Bechamp, that each animal has all its
qualities impressed upon it by its vital units, microzymas. These
determine not only the nature and species and individuality of the
organism they inhabit, but among other qualities determine the
life period of each cell and the maturing of the individual. It is
Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another. 209
the)7 which give to the bovine race a period of about five years
for reaching maturity, and to the human race a period of about
twenty years.
When a product of the bovine organization is injected into the
blood of the human, it is impossible by an}7 art to prevent the in-
troduction of some of the microzymas with the product, although
it does not follow that they are always present.
Introduced by way of the alimentary canal, the elaborate
chemico-physiological apparatus which extends along its entire
length would most probably excrete whatsoever is deleterious in
such product; inoculated directly into the human body, its
organized defences have no chance to protect him. Hence the
absolutely unscientific character generally pernicious in their
effects of hypodermic injections.
The microzymas of the cow may find in the human body a
fertile medium for multiplication, and they may impress upon the
cells they form in the human body the rapid cell growth of the
bovine race instead of that of the human. Cancer consists essen-
tially in abnormal rapid cellular growth. Hence the fact which
can not be questioned of the increase of cancer among the vacci-
nating nations receives here its logical and rational explanation
in accordance with the most profound discoveries of modern
biology and pathology.
The new disease, osteo-megalacia, which has come into exist-
ence only among the vaccinated, and whereof I mentioned a case
in the interview before referred to, furnishes further evidence to
the same effect.
Returning now to the question of infection, the position I have
endeavored to establish receives strong support in the testimony
of one of the most accurate and clear-minded of medical ob-
servers— Florence Nightingale. She said: * " Is it not living in a
continual mistake to look upon disease as we do as separate
entities which must exist, like cats and dogs; instead of look-
* Notes on Nursing, pp. 46-47. This admirable little work, first read by
me some forty years ago, long before I dreamed of taking up the study of
medicine, must have left dormant in my mind the idea that disease is not
an entity but a conditiou, which idea sprang up, as I thought, a discovery
of my own, shortly after I took up the study of pathalogy. I rejoice to pay
this tribute to one of the greatest of physicians, even though not decked
with the title of Doctor of Medicine — Florence Nightingale, who, under
the tyrannical laws of New York, and of mauy other States of the Union,
would be fined or sent to jail if she presumed to heal the sick !
2io Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
ing upon them as conditions, like a dirty and a clean condition, and
just as much under our own control; or rather as the reactions of
a kindly nature against the conditions in which we have placed
ourselves? I was brought up, both by scientific men and ignorant
women, distinctly to believe that small-pox, for instance, was a
thing of which there was once a first specimen in the world,
which went on propagating itself in a perpetual chain of descent
just as much as there was a first dog (or a first pair of dogs); and
that small-pox would not begin itself any more than a new dog
would begin without there having been a parent dog. Since then
I have seen with my eyes and smelt with my nose small-pox
growing up in first specimens, either in close rooms or in over-
crowded wards where it could not by any possibility have been
"caught" but must have begun. Nay, more, I have seen dis-
eases begin, grow up and pass into one another. Now dogs do
not pass into cats. I have seen, for instance, with a little over-
crowding, continued fever grow up; and with a little more crowd-
ing, typhoid fever; and with a little more, typhus, and all in the
same ward or hut."
A really striking illustration of diseased conditions passing into
one another is furnished by the common history of pleurisies and
pneumonias. We are so much the slaves of words that because
the so-called stages of pleurisy and pneumonia are all called
pleurisy or pneumonia respectively, we fail to note that each stage
is really more distinctly a separate disease, if diseases are to be
distinguished by names, than are small-pox, scarlet fever and
typhoid fever.
Another testimony against the specificness of diseases is fur-
nished by the beautiful experiments of Duclaux, the history of
which furnishes at the same time a striking illustration of how a
man of science, producing by a masterly processus a decisive
result, may, through a dominating prejudice, wholly fail to read
the lesson taught by his' own experiments.
Duclaux cultivated the fungus penicillum glaucum in three
different culture media and in each obtained different products.
In one he obtained a ferment which had the property of inverting
sugar; in the second, a ferment which inverted sugar and sac-
charized starch; and in the third, a ferment which first coagulated
milk and then dissolved the coagulum, that is to say, the same
fungus produced invertine in one medium, invertine and diastase
in another, and rennet and trypsine in a third.
Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another. 211
It has happened that newspapers purporting to quote me
have represented me as saying that cowpox is syphilis. They
have misquoted me therein. Cowpox, when inoculated upon the
human, produces lesions strikingly like those of syphilis, espe-
cially in its secondary symptoms; these resemble the lesions of
syphilis so closely that the most skilled syphilographers and
specialists have been unable to detect the difference. How closely
they resemble one another can be seen at a glance from my
pathological table of small-pox, cowpox, and great-pox or
syphilis, which has now been before the profession for over
five years, and even forced upon the notice of boards of health
and other vaccinal authorities, and has never been gainsaid;
yet I recognize a difference between cox-pow syphilis and
venereal-syphilis, and one difference is this, that both from
study of the literature and from some experience- 1 believe
cowpox-syphilis can generally be cured the more easily of the two
if taken in an early stage. On the other hand, there are not in-
frequent cases of cowTpox-foudroyante wmich do not occur in
venereal-syphilis (I will refer to these again presently), as also
some forms of frightful lesions of blood poisoning the like whereof
are more rarely seen in the latter disease.
I suppose we have all of us often read among the various ex-
cuses given by the official vaccinists for vaccinal disasters, that
" Oh! it could not have been the virus that was at fault, because
so many other persons were inoculated with it and it did them no
harm;" and the newspaper editors publish this as a satisfactory
exoneration, and will permit no demonstration of the error to be
published in the press. Duclaux's experiments above briefly
quoted conclusively prove the absurdity of this pretense. The
doctors wdio put it forward are either aware of its absurdity or are
disgracefully ignorant of the fundamental principles of physiology,
of biology, of pathology, and even of their owu sham science of
bacteriology. Can they possibly be ignorant of the vast differ-
ence between the action of a mineral poison, in the use of which
their excuse wrould have some little weight, and that of an organic
poison, especially of the class of ferments, which ma}7 find in one
person a medium in which the organic poison can not thrive, and
in another, to all appearance similar, the most fertile of culture
media? Further, are they so ignorant of even the technique of
their shameful art as not to know that among one hundred points
or tubes envenomed from the same source no two will carry the
212 Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
same amount or quality of poison, but that either may vary from
absolute sterility to a lethal dose?
Illustrations in support of these plain biological and patholog-
ical facts are innumerable. I take the following as the first that
comes to my hand:
Dr. Thomas Skinner vaccinated a young lady of 15 years at her
father's request. The father was chaplain of the female orphan
asylum at Liverpool, England. Together they selected for vac-
cinifer a young girl who was the picture of health, whose vaccine
vesicle was as perfect in appearance as it was possible to conceive.
On the 8th day he took the " lymph "in a capillary glass tube,
almost filling the tube with the clear transparent lymph, and re-
vaccinated the young lady, and at the same time revaccinated the
mother and the cook from the same tube. Before opening the tube
he held it up to the light and requested the mother to observe
how perfectly clear and homogeneous, like water, the lymph was.
All three operations were " successful " (as that term is employed
by vaccinal authorities), and on the eighth day all three vesicles
were matured " like a pearl upon a rose," as Jenner describes a
perfect vesicle should be. All went well until between the tenth
and eleventh days after the vaccination, that is, about three days
after the vesicle had matured and begun to scab over, the young
lady was seized with a most violent rigor, such as generally
ushers in surgical or puerperal fever. After eight days of fright-
ful sufferings she died, and within twenty minutes after death
decomposition set in, and within two hours so great was the
bloated and discolored condition of the head and face (and indeed
of the whole body) that there was not a feature recognizable!
The vaccinifer, as also the mother and the cook vaccinated from
the same tube, remained healthy.*
There are certain facts disclosed to us by microscopical investi-
gation which the physicians of the microscope especially ought
to be able to appreciate, but which from their unfortunate preju-
dices they are unable to interpret.
The blood itself has been found to contain organisms belonging
to the class of ferments, glycolitic, inverting, diastatic, amylitic,
coagulating, anti-coagulating, etc., but differing for each species of
animal. Hence, when the serum of one animal, be it cow or horse
or sheep or goat, is injected in ever so minute a quantity into the
* Royal (British) Commission on Vaccination, Sixth Report, pp. 12S-9,
220, 766.
Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another. 213
blood of an animal of a different species the gravest consequences
may be expected; and the thing to be surprised at is, not that so
many fatal disasters have followed the seropathic craze of to-day,
but that they are so few!
Although the dose injected is generally almost infinitely small,
if it contain, as it generally does, a ferment proper to the vac-
cinifer, and this animal is of a different species to the vaccinee,
and the more particularly so when, as is nearly always the case,
such ferment is pathogenic even to the vaccinifer, being obtained
from an animal made sick for the purpose, such ferment may
multiply in the blood and may overpower the resistance which
the proper ferments of the vaccinee may offer to its toxicity.
It is probable that the resistance offered by the proper ferments
of our blood to these toxic ferments and to their toxines, or
" ptomaines" as the bacteriologic fadist term them, and the
sifting function of the glandular system, a function in great part
performed by its ferments, have been the main preservatives of
the vaccinating nations from annihilation through the universal
blood-poisoning to which they have subjected themselves for gen-
eration after generation for now more than one hundred years.
But as the time comes with both the arsenic eater and the opium
consumer, when the poisons accumulated within them produce
their cumulative effects, so with those races who for generation
after generation suffer organic poisons to be injected into them,
the cumulative effects of this malpractice will surely at last over-
whelm them.
I have referred to cowpox-foudroyante as sometimes occurring
in victims of vaccination. Perhaps a better name would be
seropath foudroyante, because it occurs also in other animal
inoculations. I consider the explanation of these cases to be as
follows: By the action of the foreign ferments, hydrocyanic acid,
or the nearly equally poisonous coniine is suddenly produced.
Coniine may be formed by the withdrawal, by means of the
ferments of the vaccine matter, of the constituents of water from
the partially oxidized hydrocarbons of gelatine and ammonia
which exist in the body at all times; but more frequently, I take
the action to be that the foreign ferment sets free from their com-
pounds carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen, always present in all
parts of the body, which, coming together at the moment of such
liberation, i. e., in what is termed the nascent state, at once form
hydrocyanic acid, thus illustrating the enormous danger of rashly
214 Some of the Relations of Diseases to One Another.
dealing with the unknown. As it is now evident that this danger
affects the lives of human beings and the vitality of the race,
ought not the ignorance of those who recklessly gamble therewith
be regarded as criminal, and even made so by law?
Seropath foudryante may also result from the inoculated poison
passing directly into the circulation and causing a clot on reaching
the heart, instead of being arrested by the glandular system as
it no doubt generally is. It is to be remembered that the advo-
cates of serum inoculation insist that prophylaxis is produced
by the vaccine or other virus acting upon the blood, producing
therein a mobid condition (this is their own expression), which
renders the blood no longer a fit pabulum for the poison of the
disease intended to be guarded against.
They also insist that notwithstanding the " morbid condition
of the blood," thus induced, no harm is done to the patient.
Let the honesty of this assertion be tested. Let the Legislature
prescribe that no person shall hereafter perform the operation of
inoculating any organic virus without a special license to be
granted only after the applicant for the same has had injected
into a capital vein (the median-basilic for instance) the largest
dose employed for prophylactic purposes !
More than five years ago, Dr. Boucher, of St. Servans, France,
foretold the advent of the Bubonic plague as a direct consequence
of the long continued practice of vaccination. I was not aware of
this prediction when, over three years ago, I foretold the coming
of a disastrous epidemic among the vaccinating nations, the exact
nature of which I did not venture to predict, but said that most
probably it would be of the nature of the Bubonic plague and my
reasons for this prediction were precisely the same as those which
T afterwards found had led Dr. Boucher to make his more positive
prediction.
The history of the Bubonic plague in the past teaches that it
is erratic in its march and markedly slow. Except to the extent
mentioned above as to all so-called infectious and contagious dis-
eases, there is no evidence to show that it is either infectious or
contagious; quarantine will no more keep it out than Mrs.
Partington could keep out the Atlantic Ocean with her broom.
When the teiluric conditions are ripe for the Bubonic plague to
strike us, it will do so without regard to quarantine because the
vaccination of vast numbers of people for generation upon genera-
tion has provided a vast number of persons more or less suscept-
ible to it.
A Medical Review. 215
Is it yet possible to sound the alarm and arouse the people to
sweep away the blood poisoning quacks, and, by proper hygienic
precautions, moderate, though it may not longer be in our power
wholly to avert, the impending disaster?
A MEDICAL REVIEW.
By T. C. Duncan, M. D.
With the close of the medical colleges comes a feeling of
interest in the young graduates. Physicians of fifteen or twenty
years' practice, many of whom graduated after an attendance
upon two courses of lectures, are wondering how much better in-
formed are those of to-day who have taken four courses. The
feeling that the young graduate is better informed than the old
physician is widespread, but while this mav be true as to some
branches this is also true, that the young graduate looks with
great respect upon " the years of experience of the old doctor,"
who has been in the battle with disease and earned a reputation
among the people. Cannot these two be mutually helpful ?
The young graduate should seek to ally himself with the old
physician, with the idea of learning more of the art of healing,
while at the same time he imparts to the old physician what is
new in the science of medicine. The young physician should
remember that the old practitioner is sensitive, and therefore
should not display egotism. The right kind of partnership will
soon make both better informed and more efficient.
Many practitioners would be better informed if they knew just
what books to purchase. Read and you will know. The text-
books selected by the various medical colleges should be in the
library of every physician, or the salient facts in his head ready
for use. There are, however, some of the branches of medicine
best learned by observation; so while the wise physician will try
to keep abreast of the times by reading the recent books and best
journals, he Will get away part of every year and see what is
going on in the medical world. Medical gatherings can be very
helpful in more ways than one. He can exchange experiences
and get help for cases that he cannot call counsel for. At the
great medical centres, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc.,
post-graduate courses are available for the wide awake-physician.
He may install the young graduate in charge of his practice and
216 Index to Homoeopathic Proving s.
get away for two, three or four weeks, and in that time brush up
along many lines. The relief from practice will give a rest that
will be also beneficial. "Good physicians, like good men, are
scarce," and the best need this sort of recreation and medical re-
juvenation.
Those physicians adjacent to Chicago should know that there
are here several post-graduate schools running all the time. At
Cook county, our large city charity hospital, there are clinics all
the week, from 8 am. Monday to 10 p. m. Saturday, besides post
mortems. The ticket for all this is $5.00. Monday, p. m., and
Thursday are the homoeopathic days. Wednesday, p. m. , is the
eclectic day, while much may be learned on the other days in the
way of diagnosis and surgery. Some of the medical colleges are
in continuous session, and most of the clinicians in the various
colleges keep up their clinics all the year, where physicians are
welcome always. May and June are good vacation months for
physicians.
INDEX TO HOMCEOPATHIC PROVINGS.
By Thomas Lindsley Bradford, M. D., Author of " Life of
Hahnemann," " Homoeopathic Bibliography," " Pio-
neers of Homoeopathy," Etc., Etc. Philadelphia :
Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
One looks at this comely volume of three hundred and five
pages with something of surprise. Here is, at least, one homoeo-
pathic worker who has not bowed the knee to Baal; him the com-
bination tablet and the antikamnia bedevilment do not beguile.
In the quiet of his library he searches the records to trace the
genealogy of our PROVINGS — Cut bono ?
Well, the patient compiler of this "Index" has, it seems, an
old-fashioned conviction. He writes: "In this age of fantastic
pharmaceutical compounds let us not forget that the cure is made
easier and more complete by the selection of the simillimum ac-
cording to the directions laid down by Hahnemann than by
floundering about with empirical doses of chemical extracts given
according to eclectic fancy and not by the certain law our school
possesses, the Law of Similia." He actually signs his name to
such an old-fashioned sentiment as this. However, there is no
telling what a man with a conviction will not do, and our author's
Index to Homoeopathic Proving s. 217
is a conviction that has taken deep root. What else could sustain
a man throughout the vast labor of tracing the record of some
eight hundred and fifty remedies that are to be found in the
wilderness of our century-old literature ?
If there is any chimerical endeavor it is to try and prepare a
perfect bibliography; approaches thereto are all that are permitted
the most faithful scholar. Edition after edition may be issued,
"enlarged and corrected," but still the last word remains to be
said. Dr. Bradford has proven no exception to the infrangible
rule governing works of this class; perhaps the wonder is that in
so extremely extensive a field of labor he should have done as he
has.
Not the least of his labor has been the collecting of the material.
This of itself is enough to give one the headache as he examines
the completed volume. But while this was the longer task, it
was little compared with the dreary drudgery of reading the
proof. Every reference must be correctly given, not an iota over-
looked. No one but the compiler of a bibliography can appre-
ciate the wearing nature of this part of Dr. Bradford's work.
Surely nothing but a rooted conviction has sustained him during
this labor of love, nothing but a CONVICTION (capitals are
used for the benefit of purblind homceopathists; a good sight of
the word may lead them to the dictionary to find out what it
means), nothing but a conviction could have incited him to do
this labor. Fame? The few that will use his "Index " can with
their united breath make but a feeble ' ' toot ' ' on that celebrated
trumpet. The "fame" that will surely come to the unaspiring
compiler is not to be his reward during his life. When Homoeop-
athy shall have passed through the trial that is awaiting it to-day,
when the flesh pots of Egypt shall have lost their savor, the rem-
nant— which is the safeguard of every truth — will award to the
faithful workman his chaplet. Sufficient for him to-day is the
knowledge that he has done his duty.
To the scurvy multitude who are homoeopaths ' ' for revenue
only" this reviewer has nothing to say; but to those who in
their hearts believe that Homoeopathy has in it "the healing of
the nations," he would declare that for the furtherance of a
proper study of our Materia Medica this book is an indispensable
aid. There are practitioners of Homoeopathy who have passed
beyond the nursing-bottle period; they are strong enough to do
without " predigested " food. The resume no longer suffices for
218 Index to Homoeopathic Proving s.
them, they must trace the "provings" to their source; and, in-
deed, it is with " provings," as old Weller said it was with
sausages: " It's all werry well, Sammy, ven you knows the man
wot makes 'em." There is a difference in deacons and every
whit as much in doctors, yet in our " school " every one who has
a mouth and a pervious oesophagus feels himself qualified to make
a " proving." Provings and children are somewhat alike, in that
both are made with fearful facility, and, alas! with "provings;"
as with children, there are bastards innumerable. But " ven you
knows the man vot makes 'em," it is easy to discard the " chance
child ' ' for the one begotten between lawful sheets.
In this compendious " Index" Bradford has included all, but
it will be no task to put the bar sinister where it belongs with the
" Index" as a guide. Brand the bastards lest they defraud the
well-born of their inheritance.
There is one feature of this volume which should startle many
an homoeopathic practitioner; the record contained therein of
what many have done, and of what a vastly greater man}7 have
not done. Compare the labors as a prover of Heriug with the do-
nothingness of Gray. Hering died far from rich; Gray left a
liberal fortune. He took nothing into the grave with him; his
influence ended with his life, but Hering is a living force for good
that defies even the great conqueror, Death.
" Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust."
Of course, this "Index" will find a place in the library of
every homoeopathic college; where else it will find a lodgment —
amongst the ten thousand homoeopathic physicians of these
United States — it were hard to say But when it is found on the
shelves of a practitioner one may be assured that its owner is not
a hireling, but one who honors his calling, and has in grateful re-
membrance those workmen whose labors are the foundation
stones of the fabric that shall last so long as the children of men
are subject to disease.
S. A.J.
Ann Arbor, April ioth.
American Institute Announcement. 219
AMERICAN INSTITUTE ANNOUNCEMENT.
The Programme.
Editor Homceopathic Recorder.
The Executive Committee beg to announce to the members of
the Institute and the profession generally the following important
notice as to railroad arrangements and the programme or enter-
tainment offered to the Institute and its guests by the citizens of
Richfield Springs:
The usual fare and one-third rate for the round trip, on the cer-
tificate plan, has been granted by all the roads.
Arrangements have also been made whereby all members com-
ing from the western country via Buffalo can stop over at the
Pan-American Exposition for ten days on any kind or character
of ticket, providing said ticket is deposited with joint agent, No.
50 Exchange street, Buffalo, and the payment of $1.00 made.
For those who come from the eastern country the New York
Central, West Shore and Lackawanna will make an amicable ar-
rangement that will grant our members a sufficient stop-over at
Binghamton or Utica, at which points they can procure regular
excursion tickets to Buffalo and return. This will allow members
from the east to attend the exposition at a very slight additional
expense.
Through parlor cars will be run direct to Richfield Springs
from both the east and the west. The Delaware and Lackawanna
Road will put on its summer schedule of trains for the session of
the Institute, which provides close connections at both Utica and
Binghamton.
The Entertainment Committee and the citizens of Richfield
Springs offer the following unusually fine social programme,
which has been so arranged as not to interfere with the work of
the Institute:
Saturday, June 15th.
Open Air Concert, Richfield Springs Military Band, 3:30 p. M.
Sunday, June 16th.
Sacred Vocal and Instrumental Concert in the Darlington
Hotel Parlors, 8:30 p. m.
Monday, June 17th.
Open Air Concert, Richfield Springs Military Band, 3:30 p. M.
220 American Institute Announcement.
Tuesday, June 18th.
Open Air Concert, Richfield Springs Military Band, 3:30 p. M.
Grand Ball, Hotel Earlington, tendered to the Institute and its
guests by Messrs. B. M. Earle & Son, 10 p. m.
Supper, 12 m.
Wednesday, June 19th.
Drive over magmficent mountain roads to Lake Otsego, the
famous " Glimmerglass " of Fenimore Cooper; sail over the lake
to Cooperstown, his home; luncheon in Cooperstown, drive home
to Richfield along the shores of L,ake Otsego, reaching Hotel
Earlington about 5 p. m.
N. B. — Each day the ladies of the Institute are invited by the
citizens of Richfield Springs to take this delightful excursion to
Cooperstown and return.
Music in the parlors Hotel Earlington, 11 a.m.
Open air concert in Earlington Park, 4 p. m.
Reception at the Waiontha Golf Club, 4 to 6 p. m., by the
President, Mr. T. R. Proctor.
Progressive euchre party, tendered by Messrs. Earl & Son, in
the Earlington parlors, 9:30 p. m.
Thursday, June 20th.
Drive to Cooperstown and return (same as Wednesday), 10 A.
m., 5 P. M.
Music in the parlors Earlington, 11 A. m.
Open air concert, 4 p. m.
Musicale in the parlors of Hotel Earlington, 9:30 p. m.
Friday, June 21st.
Drive to Cooperstown and return (same as Wednesday), 10 A.
M., 5 P. M.
Music in parlors Earlington, 11 a. m.
Open air concert, 4 P. m.
Grand complimentary vaudeville entertainment tendered to the
Institute and their guests by the Entertainment Committee and
citizens of Richfield Springs. (It will be the endeavor of the
committee in charge of this entertainment to procure in New
York for this performance, only the very best available talent and
no expense will be spared to make this vaudeville performance
one of the highest class.)
Amblyopia from the Use of Wood Alcohol. 221
Saturday, June 22d.
Music in Hotel Earlington parlors, 11 a. m.
At 2 p. M. at the Lake House, on Canadargo Lake, a Clambake
tendered by the Entertainment Committee and the citizens of
Richfield Springs. Music by the Richfield Springs Military Band.
The citizens of Richfield Springs announce it as their purpose
to make ever}' member of the Institute pleased with their visit.
They do this as an advertisement of their health resort, and the
committee feel assured that the session of 1901 will be the most
pleasant one in the history of the Institute.
A. B. Norton, M. D.,
President.
E. H. Porter, M. A., M. D.,
Secretary.
AMBLYOPIA FROM THE USE OF WOOD ALCO-
HOL.
By Edward Jackson, A. M., M. D., Denver, Col.
(The following from Denver Medical Times, April 1, is very
important in the light of the homoeopathic law. — Editor of Ho-
moeopathic Recorder.)
The following case illustrates a condition that is becoming suf-
ficiently common to be of considerably practical importance. On
account of the deceptive improvement that characterizes it, and
the bad prognosis as to the ultimate result, unless possibly it be
treated at a very early stage, it should be immediately recognized
by any practitioner to whose notice it may be brought.
Corporal J., colored, aged 30, about to be dismissed from the
service for blindness, was referred to me by Colonel Lippincott.
He came with a history of poisoning by wood alcohol, several
months previously. He was unconscious for forty-eight hours,
and upon the return of consciousness found himself entirely
blind. In three days he began to see a little, and vision pro-
gressively improved until at times it was quite good. But in two
or three weeks it began to fail again, and has gradually grown
worse until he has reached his present condition. He can now
count fingers at three feet with his right eye, within a contracted
222 Amblyopia from the Use of Wood Alcohol.
field. While in the left eye it is somewhat doubtful if he has per-
ception of light. The pupils .react to light, the right quite
slowly, the left very slowly. The ophthalmoscope shows the
optic disc opaque, the retinal vessels rather contracted, the right
disc pale, the left quite white. In short, the appearances are
those of optic atrophy, probably consecutive to a neutritis.
Since methyl or wood alcohol is not subjected to the same tax,
it can be bought for one-half the price of ethyl alcohol. This
has led of late years to its extensive employment in the arts; and
to its surreptitious use in place of ethyl alcohol, in the manufac-
ture of cheap " essences," and as an intoxicant. On this account
cases of poisoning by wood alcohol are liable to be encountered
by any one. A good many deaths have been caused by it. Gen-
erally the intoxication ends in particularly violent gastrointes-
tinal disturbance. And during this stage the sight becomes af-
fected and rapidly grows worse, until the patient is practically
or completely blind. But several cases have given the same his-
tory as the one reported above, of awakening from a debauch en-
tirely blind. Whatever the manner of onset, this complete blind-
ness is followed by partial recovery of vision; and the patient
and his medical attendant, if not forewarned, naturally indulge
the hope that the recovery will be complete. But of all the re-
ported cases, which now number over twenty-five, complete re-
covery has occurred in but two.
Usually, the poisoning has been due to the drinking of the
wood alcohol as an intoxicant; but it may occur from exposure
to the fumes. Thus Colburn reported a case, in which the failure
of vision followed the using of wood alcohol in a closed room
to clean old furniture. Patillo reports two cases in men exposed
to the fumes while engaged in shellacing the inside of beer vats.
Death has even occurred from exposure to the fumes among work-
men engaged in its manufacture.
In 1897 A. G. Thomson reported a case of similar amblyopia,
which I saw with him, that followed the drinking of " essence of
Jamaica ginger. " Two years later Hiram Woods reported six
cases in which the blindness was ascribed to the same cause.
Other cases have been since reported. In all these cases both the
general symptoms and the amblyopia have been similar to those
produced by wood alcohol. This resemblance I pointed out a
year ago. (Progressive Medicine, June, 1900.) Additional cases,
due to drinking "essence" of Jamaica ginger, have since been
Amblyopia from the Use of Wood Alcohol. 223
reported; and H. Harlan, of Baltimore, was able to get samples
of the essence that caused blindness in two cases.
These samples he had analyzed (Ophthalmic Record, Feb-
ruary, 1901), and found that the preparation was really quite de-
ficient in ginger; but that the menstrum employed showed the
behavior, boiling point and reactions, of a mixture, 1 part ethylic
and 3 parts methylic alcohol, Mr. Hynson, who had made the
analysis for Dr. Harlan, remarks of such "essences:" " Ac-
quanintace with the value of the ingredients entering into the
pharmacopea preparations; and a knowledge of the prices at
which these products are sold to grocers and country merchants
would prejudice the case in the mind of any competent business
man."
This special brand of essence of Jamaica ginger, which con-
tained wood alcohol, was made in Baltimore. And it is a curious
fact, that all the cases of Jamaica ginger amblyopia have been re-
ported from a territory in which a cheap essence made in Balti-
timore would be most likely to be sold. Thus eight cases were
reported by Woods and Harlan in Baltimore; two by Dunn, of
Richmond, Va. ; one by Thomson, at Philadelphia; and one by
Stieren, at Pittsburg. It looks as if the wood alcohol essence
might all have come from a single source.
But the reduction in cost of 50 per cent, in the ingredients
used is too tempting an opportunity to be long neglected. Es-
pecially since such an essence used for its ostensible purpose
would not be likely to cause symptoms of wood alcohol poisoning.
As a flavoring essence or a domestic remedy it is likely to be used
by the teaspoonful. Thomson's patient thought he had taken a
quart or more. Stieren' s had drunk a dozen bottles before noon
of the day he was affected. Still these poisonings are very largely
a matter of idiosyncracy. Patillo's cases, above referred to, were
working together. One became blind on the sixth day. The other
worked and continued unaffected for two weeks. The possibility
of such poisoning and the amblyopia which may arise from it
should be borne in mind, even though the amount of wood alcohol
ingested be very much less than was taken in some of these cases.
The diagnosis of this form of amblyopia ought not to be very
difficult. The fact that it comes on suddenly and affects both
eyes, rules out most of the common causes of blindness, even
though no history of previous intoxication can be obtained.
Where it arises from exposure to the fumes, such history might
224 Amblyopia from the Use of Wood Alcohol.
be quite lacking. The conditions that would need to be excluded
with especial care are ursemic blindness, which would always be
attended with other evidences of kidney disease; hereditary optic
neuritis, which is usually slower of onset and affects one eye be-
fore the other; and other forms of toxic amblyopia.
The amblyopia due to Quini?ie or Salicylic acid is as sudden in
onset and always affects both eyes. But the history of use of one
of these drugs is readily obtained; and the comparatively good
central vision in connection with the great narrowing of the visual
field differs essentially from the condition found in wood alcohol
amblyopia. In the amblyopia caused by tobacco, iodoform, or
ordinary ethylic alcohol, there is a central scotoma and little or
no narrowing of the field of vision. Lead poisoning sometimes
causes a similar impairment of vision, but generally more slowly.
The treatment employed in these cases has usually proven of
no value. But most of them have been seen at a comparatively
late stage. Kuhnt's case was seen three days after the onset of
the blindness. And Stieren saw his patient three hours after he
awakened from his drunken stupor, to find himself absolutely
blind. In this latter case, three hot foot-baths and 20 grains each
of calomel and compound jalap powder in divided doses, and two
hypodermic injections of 1-8 grain of Pilocarpin hydrochlorate,
were given during the first night. Next morning the patient
could count fingers at ten inches. Then for two days the pilo-
carpin was given at intervals of six hours and a grain of Calomel
every two hours. iVfter that 20 grain doses of Potassium iodide
were substituted. By the fifth day vision had again become
normal.
In Kuhnt's case, which also made a complete recovery, warm
baths, hot drinks, pilocarpin injections, and, later, Potassium
iodide were also employed. Probably an early resort to measures
of this kind would cure a good many cases. But a faithful trial
of such remedies at a later stage has produced little or no im-
provement. After symptoms of optic atrophy appear — the visual
treatment for that condition will do as much as anythiug to limit
the blindness. Much recovery of vision at this stage is scarcely
to be hoped for.
One sniff of Hamamelis extract will, as a rule, instantly stop
nose-bleed.
More Tuberculin Cases. 225
MORE TUBERCULIN CASES.
By Dr. Mau, of Kiel.
Translated for the HomcEopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn., March, 1901.
I. There are cases where the patient is not properly suffering
from consumption, but is only burdened with phthisical condi-
tions. Though vigorous and well nourished, such persons show
something of phthisical constitution, and later in life they are apt
to be seized by diabetes or by consumption itself. Such a case
came to my office in the spring of 1890 from one of the provinces,
the gentleman in question being of vigorous, tall and well-
developed appearance. His mother had died of consumption
while still young, and his only sister bid fair to speedily follow
her. In cold weather he easily succumbs to pneumonia, and,
therefore, travels from one sanitarium to another to escape the
cold. There is much cough and expectoration. As his father
had died of pneumonia and his mother of consumption, he was
naturally much concerned about his condition. He perspired a
good deal and consumed much fluid, partly alcoholic, nourish-
ment. His sleep was poor and he had a fever which was almost
constant. Three months' treatment with 1 ' icberculin almost made
a new man of him. He now sleeps well; the glandular swellings
have disappeared; the temperature is normal; there is no cough,
nor expectoration, and his tissues contain much less water; i. <?.,
he does not appear quite so corpulent and large, but is on the
other hand much more vigorous and healthy .
II. The second case so much resembles the first that I need
only sketch it. The same inherited constitution and tendency to
pneumonias, the same hydrogenoid constitution, cough, expec-
toration, perspiration, thirst and sleepless nights. But no fever.
The treatment was a mixed one. The Tuberculin had not the
same effect on this man as in the former case, but he also becime
more thin and slender without losing in weight. From this I con-
clude that he actually gained in vigor and that there was only a
diminution of the excess of water in his tissues. The treatm mt
was considerably assisted by the use of Pulsatilla, Spir. glandium
quercus and Acetum lobelia ; and when I lately met him and asked
him about his condition, he answered: " Excellent !"
III. A young lady of nineteen came under my treatment in
226 More Tuberculin Cases.
July, 1889. She had many flushes of heat, accompanied with
hectic redness, dyspnoea and a short cough; on the neck were
cicatrices of glandular swellings which had been scratched out;
there was a dingy brown complexion, a coarse rattling in both the
lungs; on the left side of the neck there was a large gland soft to
the touch; the heart presented a pronounced murmur, in addition
to the flushes mentioned before. On July 12, I prescribed Iodo-
form 3. After two months there was considerable improvement
and increase in weight, but no diminution in the flushes of heat.
Tuberculin 100 and later on 200 was followed by a complete cure.
IV. On September 9th, 1889, a young merchant came to me
exhibiting plainly the phthisical type. Both his parents had died
of consumption. He had been treated by nine physicians and
had also been treated for a considerable time in a hospital.
There were severe piles, constipation and brown discoloration
of the skin of the abdomen. His figure was long and slim and he
had a long neck and a decided stoop forward. Thre^ months'
treatment with Tuberculin, then Tkuja on account of vaccinosis
(chronic poisoning from vaccination), and Hydrastis canadensis
effected a complete cure.
V. A little child was brought to me in a state of extreme
emaciation, and also on account of chronic diarrhoea. All the
glands were perceptibly and visibly swollen. Doubtless the
mesenteric glands were the miin seat of the disease and the cause
of the diarrhoea. Elaterium 3, Iod. 2 and Thuja 30 made a
visible improvement, but the diarrhoea had not quite disappeared
and there were profuse sweats. After one month's treatment
with Tuberculinum the child was much improved in its general
health, and the diarrhoea and perspiration had ceased. I gave
Calcarea phosphor. 3 for two or three months and could then dis-
miss the child as cured.
VI. A distinguished author well known in theological circles,
over fifty years of age, came to me in 1889 on account of dread-
ful pains in the head, almost total insomnia, and great debility.
His brothers and sisters had mostly died of dropsy of the brain,
and he himself is suffering from a congestion on the right lung,
probably due to cavities that have healed up, for he has repeatedly
suffered from haemoptae. After a lengthened treatment and
some time spent in the South, he had been dismissed as cured of
consumption. But now it was generally apprehended that he
would have softening of the brain, and would lose his reason.
More Tuberculin Cases. 227
He described his headache as being attended with a sensation as
if his brain was being tightly squeezed together with an iron ring.
His hands were tremulous, but he was most uneasy from a sensa-
tion on his back as if his clothes were moist.
It may seem hardly credible, but in less than a month the head-
ache had gone, the morbid sensation in the back had vanished,
and his sleep now is excellent. As a matter of precaution, I gave
him a few additional powders of Tuberculin.
VII. An anxious mother brought me her child, who was a year
and three months old and of a peevish, irritable, and taciturn dis-
position. There was constipation, and the child would scream
out in his sleep, and was very restless at night. His little sister
.had died when two and a half years old of tuberculous inflamma-
tion of the brain, and her disease had begun in the same way. I
first gave him Thuja, and this was followed by amelioration, but
the child was not yet cured. I then gave him Tuberadin 100,
after which he first became " fearfully sick," but soon after that
he improved. This was followed by Calcarea phosphorica 3, and
he appeared cured. About three months later he had a slight
relapse, for which I gave Tuberculin 200. He recovered, and is
now prospering.
VIII. I was consulted last summer by a merchant from London,
twenty-eight years of age. He was in the first stage of con-
sumption. His mother had died from the same disease, and his
brother is now in the last stage of consumpton. He had an
eruption on the skin above the larynx, and his state was so low
that I commenced his treatment with Zincum acet. This remedy
cured the eruption. A further examination showed a very dark
complexion, and he had long suffered from chronic diarrhoea.
There was humid rattling all over the chest and much expectora-
tion. Iris versicolor cured the diarrhoea, but the profuse expec-
toration continued. He had before this been operated for a
fistula. After two months' treatment with Tuberculin he was
cured, and had gained considerably in weight. The cure was
complete, and he has now married with my sanction.
P. S. — He is at present well, and his wife has presented him
with a healthy bouncing boy.
IX. A married gentleman, thirty years old, consulted me on
account of an affection of his right knee. Some thirteen years
ago a horse had kicked him on the knee, which remained swollen
and pained him at intervals ever since. He had been in a hos-
228 More Tuberctdin Cases.
pital in London, where they wanted to operate on him. But one
of his acquaintances persuaded him to consult me, as being averse
to operating. The physicians considered an operation to be
urgently called for, as they considered the affection to be tuber-
culous. This was no doubt quite correct, since some of his
brothers and sisters, ten out of fifteen, had died of consumption,
and he himself had already suffered from hsemoptce and exhaust-
ing sweats.
Two months' treatment with Tuberculin restored him, though
the last of the swelling on the knee only disappeared after Bellis
perennis, which he took for a month.
X. Miss W. , aged twenty-six, consulted me on July 17, 1891.
Her whole family was consumptive. One sister had suffered
from melancholia, and had ended her life by suicide. For ten
years the patient had been suffering from herpes on the right eye,
on the right cheek, and on the nose. Her face was extremely
disfigured. She received Tuberculin 200, on July 24th. The
nose began to improve. In the throat there appeared a small
perforation of the soft palate near the uvula. She had felt a sore-
ness there for the last few days, though she had never before had
any trouble there. A small tuberculous nodule must have been
seated there, which was made to break open by the Tuberculinum. .
September 1st. She is much improved. She received Tuber-
lin 1000.
October 9th. The face is improving, though at times of a
deep red. Tuberculin 200.
November 14th. The nose is improving slowly.
January 5, 1892. Better, the nose is less red. Tuberculin
1000.
March 4th. The face very much improved. She has had
influenza, and her feet and legs remained swollen for some time.
The physician who treated her said that she was suffering from
chronic nephritis; that the homoeopathic medicine had-driven the
lupus in and that it had fallen upon the kidneys. But since the
same authority had before that pronounced the lupus to be incur-
able, I felt inclined to doubt his diagnosis. I examined the urine,
and at the first examination I found it pale, alkaline, containing
some mucus and phosphates, but no albumen. A second examina-
tion showed some albumen but no cylinders. She was fully
cured a short time afterward through the homoeopathic remedies
indicated, and she has not had any relapse.
Cures of Mental Alienation. 229
CURES OF MENTAL ALIENATION.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipzig, -er Pop. Z.f.
Horn., April, 1901.
I. In the month of April, 1899, I treated a little girl from our
town for stiff neck; Belladonna and Sulphur caused a continued
improvement. When the child was getting better nervous symp-
toms developed with the mother, who had nursed the child very
carefully and in a self-sacrificing manner; these symptoms proved
so severe that the husband requested me to call soon. I, there-
fore, called the same day on the patient, who had hitherto showed
a pretty cheerful temperament; she made an impression of rest-
lessness, stared at me and showed a manifest distrust as is apt to
be the case with those whose mind is alienated. She would sit
on her chair stolidly brooding, staring into the empty air, mur-
muring words that could not be well distinguished, and answer-
ing questions slowly and with aversion. Then, again, she would
throw herself wildly on her child that was slumbering quietly,
lamenting that her darling was dead; or she would rave furiously
against opponents visible only to her; she supposed a cat to be a
ghost, or a passing tramp to be an enemy about to destroy her,
etc. The remedies I used failed me almost altogether. While I
was preparing the husband a few days later for the eventual re-
moval of his wife to an asylum he suddenly remembered an
incident in his daughter's sickness that had not yet become known
to me. I had prescribed that the child should receive five drops
of Belladonna 6 D. in water every half hour, and his wife had ac-
cordingly provided a tumbler as they are used for homoeopathic
remedies, partly filled with water, and had dropped in the requi-
site amount of the medicine and had given the child the requisite
doses from it. But in her excitement she had one time made a
mistake and had given the child water to drink from the tumbler
containing the medicine and had not noticed her error before the
child had taken a good drink from it. Her fright was great,
though the little girl, of course, suffered no harm from it. Since
there was much reason to suppose that her fright was the cause
of her present state I prescribed Opium, which effected a prompt
and complete cure.
II. A miller's journeyman, whom I had known for some time,
had assisted in taking down the dead body of a neighbor who had
230 Ileus — A tropin.
killed himself by hanging. Ever since that time this man, who
had been formerly very industrious and merry, became melan-
choly, and this so much that he loathed all work, withdrew from
all his acquaintances and refused to take part in their amusements.
He supposed this melancholy, though it continually increased, to
be only transitory, until the thought of suicide, which he could
scarcely resist, came to torment him, giving him no rest neither
while at work nor in his dreams. The image of the man who
had hanged himself was continually before him, and the patient
came to see that if he should not soon obtain relief he would be
forced to also commit suicide. The physician of the neighboring
town, whom he first consulted, prescribed Morphium, Bromium
and Chloral hydrate without any effect, so the patient called on
me and Kali phosphoricum 6 D., which I gave him, in a short time
effected a complete cure, as he told me a few months later when
visiting me.
ILEUS— ATROPIN
Translated for the HomcEopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
March, 190L
"Dr. Batsch, of Grossenhain, has found Atropin useful in
certain cases of ileus. Knowing that dynamic ileus is due to the
paralysis of the motory fibres of the nervous splanchnicus
(adynamic form), or to the activity of the inhibitory fibres
(dynamic form), in severe cases of dynamic ileus with violent
hiccough, he tried Atropin, so as to overcome the spasm of the
muscles of the bowels by paralyzing the inhibiting fibres of the
splanchnicus. After two subcutaneous injections of Atropin,
there followed an enormous evacuation and in consequence, a full
cure.
Also in other cases of the most severe obstruction, as in ileus
from an extensive s:rotal hernia, he effected a cure through
Atropin. Still the remedy should not be used in routine fashion,
frequently lighter remedies will suffice. Sometimes, also, where
Atropin is not suitable, an operation will have to be undergone.
Still in suitable cases, even in the last stage of ileus, when an
operation would be impracticable, the life that is endangered may
be preserved by doses of Atropin exceeding the maximal. The
author communicates also a number of cases treated by his col-
leagues, when Atropin was successful." {Muenchener Med.
Wochenschrift, 45, 1899.)
Avena and Arnica as Nervine Tonic. 231
We would here call attention to the fact that Surgeon General
Theden has made use of Belladonna in very large doses in ileus.
So it has also been used before this in incarcerated hernia. In
convulsive constrictions of the intestinal canal, especially where
there is a circumscribed inflammatory peritonitis, Bellado?i?ia is
often plainly indicated from the homoeopathic point of view, only
we should not in such a case give it in such heavy doses. While
Dr. Batsch desires to remove the convulsion of the muscles of the
bowels by paralyzing the inhibitory fibres of the splanchnicus,
and uses heavy doses to this end, we would be guided by the con-
sideration that Belladonna is able to influence the annular mus-
cles, and as it can cause a convulsive stricture in healthy persons
so it may remove such a stricture in sick persons; to this is to be
added its specific action on the serous membranes, as on the peri-
tonaeum.
AVENA AND ARNICA AS NERVINE TONICS.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from Leipziger Pop. Z. f.
Horn., April, 1901.
"'Avena and Arjiica have been of very great service to me."
Many readers will at once know in what this service consisted.
I have heard the praise of these remedies frequently, and even in
more eloquent expressions. Both these remedies are able to re-
vi ve the vital force when sinking from disease, work, mental
emotions and other depressing causes.
To take up first Avena* or rather the tincture of Avena saliva,
tincture of oats. This remedy has been embodied in our Materia
Medica now for fifteen to twenty years. Since that time A vena-
Cacao and Quaker Oats have been used. In Scotland the har-
vesters use thin, warm oat gruel to satisfy their thirst, as with us
they use coffee. This gruel not only satisfies the thirst, but it
also restores the strength. All this shows that oats must contain
a very wholesome principle, acting in a manner analogous now to
that of China, then again like wine, cola, etc.; i. <?., those reme-
dies which in pharmacology are denominated roborantia. Its
effects may be strengthened by the simultaneous use of Arnica,
given in alternation or at the same time.
A convalescent patient who feels prostrated and wretched and
is slow in making his recovery may thus receive three times a
232 A Kali Bichroniiciim Case.
day 4-5 drops of tincture of Avena and with it 1-2 drops of Arnica
2 D., or the Arnica may be given later. This mixture should be
given in a teaspoonful of water, best quite warm. This mixture
has proved very effective in my practice. It is often sufficient to
give 10-15 drops of tincture of Avena in a wineglassful of water,
a sip to be taken four to five times a day. Thus we may escape
the reproach of using double remedies. Though whenever we
may assist a patient more quickly, we may well afford to take
this reproach on us.
It is even quite a question whether Homoeopathy as such enters
into the question at all. For this would suppose that Avena, if
given to a healthy person in large doses which might cause dis-
ease, would excite similar states of debility, exhaustion and pros-
tration. I at least have heard of no such symptoms. But should
our patients be deprived of the benefits accruing from this excel-
lent remedy, and wait until theory comes limping after practice?
The same may be said of Ar?iica. In the Encyclopaedia of Homoeo-
pathic Materia Medica, by Altschul, e. g., where he discusses the
physiological properties of Arnica, I find nothing which would
show the homceopathicity of the remedy in this case.
But although the curative power of these drugs may not be ex-
plained from homoeopathic principles, it nevertheless is there. I
must also remark, that also the dilutions of the tincture of Avena
have an undoubted efficacy. Twenty drops of this tincture and
five drops of Arnica tincture may be mixed with ten grammes of
Spiritis vini and vigorously shaken, and we get a preparation of
sufficient strength which is, besides, cheaper than sanitary wines
or other wines still more expensive. And while the latter tire a
person, produce acidity and may injure by exciting palpitation of
the heart, this will never be the effect of Avena and Arnica when
taken in the proportion given above.
A KALI BICHROMICUM CASE.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z. f.
Horn., February, 1901.
On the tenth of January, 1900, I had to call on Miss T. The
patient had a wretched, morbid appearance, felt weak and sick,
was chilly and of lachrymose disposition. For some time she has
had a violent mucous obstruction of the upper portions of the
Book Notices. 233
respiratory apparatus, a copious secretion of saliva and mucus. A
definite diagnosis could only be given on the succeeding day. I
at once ordered her to bed, though there was not at the time any
severe fever, owing to the fact of her feeble and anaemic condition,
nor, indeed, did any fever appear during the whole course of her
ailment. The patient could not open her mouth, just as if there
was a mechanical obstruction. Thus it was absolutely impossible
to inspect the buccal cavity and fauces; still there could not be any
doubt that there was an abscess in one of the tonsils. The nasal
voice and an increasing disability to swallow, and then also the
color of the thickly coated tongue confirmed this. Its color was
almost as yellow as a lemon, and the coating was almost like a fur,
and this only changed quite slowly after the abscess ^iad opened.
This characteristic coating of the tongue I consider to be pathogno-
monic; it is, therefore, as we call it, a guiding symptom in the
diagnosis. A somewhat analogous symptom we see in diphtheritic
sore throat. But therapy also can put these symptoms to use, as
they indicate Kali bichivmicum. So it was in this case. After
the patient had taken the remedy a few times on January 15th
(every three hours as much of a low trituration as will be on the
point of a knife), the mother sent me word in the evening that
the abscess had opened and asking whether the medicine should
be continued. I continued Kali bichrom. for two more days,
when the cure was completed.
BOOK NOTICES.
Pocket-Book of Medical Practice. Including Diseases of the
Kidneys, Skin, Nerves, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat (and Ob-
stetrics, Gynaecology and Surgery by Special Authors). By
Ch. Gatchell, M. D. Fourth edition. 394 pages. Flexible
cover, round corners, gilt edges. $2.00; postage, 6 cents.
Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
This is a note at the end of the book: " Should those who use
this book seek in its pages for that which they fail to find, if they
will communicate the fact to the author the subject will be
included in some future edition if it rightfully belongs in a work
of this character. " This shows that the author has confidence
that in this, the fourth edition (now published by Boericke &
234 Book Notices.
Tafel), he has completely covered the field. And we believe he
has, for a completer, and at the same time more concise, medical
work was never before printed. Another great improvement in
this edition over the earlier ones is in the paper, that in the first
being so transparent as to show through, thus making it very-
hard on the eyes; the paper used in this edition is opaque and the
eye rests with ease on the printed page.
Principles of Surgery. By N. Senn, M. D., Pn. D., LL. D.,
Professor of Surgery in Rush Medical College in Affiliation
with the University of Chicago; Professorial Lecturer on Mili-
tary Surgery in the University at Chicago; Attending Surgeon
to the Presbyterian Hospital; Surgeon-in-Chief to St. Joseph's
Hospital; Surgeon-General of Illinois; late Lieutenant-Colonel
of United States Volunteers and Chief of the Operating Staff
with the army in the field during the Spanish-American War.
Third edition. Thoroughly revised with 230 wood engravings,
half-tones and colored illustrations. Royal octavo. Pages,
14-700. Extra cloth, $4.50, net; sheep or half-russia, $5.50,
net. Delivered. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, pub-
lishers, 1914-16 Cherry street.
This book, now in its third edition, is written to "serve the
purpose of a systematic treatise on the causation, pathology, diag-
nosis, prognosis and treatment of the injuries and affections which
the surgeon is most frequently called upon to treat. The success-
ful study and practice of any branch of the healing art require a
thorough knowledge of the principles upon which it is based." It
is a fine work.
In the transactions of the American Institute of Homoeopathy
for 1 90 1 there is a Report of the New Publications for the past
two years. Leaving out the Transactions there are the titles of
thirty books given, and of these Boericke & Tafel published
twenty-four. Of the remaining six one has since been turned
over to that firm to handle.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
MOCCASIN SNAKE VENOM.
Dr. John L,. Moffat, of 1136 Dean St., Brooklyn, N. Y., has
sent to Messrs. Boericke & Tafel crystals (by evaporation) of the
moccasin snake venom (A?icislrodon piscivorus). If any reader
has pointers on the action of this particular snake venom it might
be useful to send it to the Recorder. The venom sent was
obtained from a snake now iu Bronx Park, and fully identified by
the authorities of the Bronx Park Zoological Gardens.
Under Toxicophis, which is the same, there is a mention of it in
Allen's Eyicyclopcedia, volume 10, page 20. What is contained
there is taken from a communication by Wm. Ingals, Boston Med-
ical and Surgical Journal, 1842, and also others in same journal;
in all, three cases of effects of the bite of the snake.
One case developed this peculiarity: For several years the pains
were confined to the knee of the limb bitten (boy aged 10 when
bitten); in a few years it left the knee and seized the hip, and
finally it attacked the shoulder, the last attack being very slight.
Also, in same case, for the last eighteen years he has had an
annual recurrence of the symptoms, attended with severe pain,
but not accompanied with swelling; it occurred at precisely the
same time of the year, continued several days, but decreasing in
severity every succeeding year.
The same observation was made in another case of this remark-
able recurrence of the symptoms every year at the same time.
This is a pointer that may help out in some cases.
236 Editorial.
From this hour I ordain myself loosed of limits and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would
hold me.
Wai/t Whitman.
Says Dr. Sheldon Levitt, in the Minneapolis Homoeopathic
Magazine for March: " It is lamentable, but true, that in Homoe-
opathy we witness the same spirit of intolerance which character-
ized adherents of the old methods in their treatment of the dis-
ciples of Hahnemann. The same denunciation of heterodoxical
opinions and practices which attempted to block the way of truth,
and those days fall upon one who now declares his faith in the
efficacy of mental medicine; and therefore while there are many
who have profound faith in it, few have the courage to confess it.
Denunciation would be perfectly just had we but first tested
the merits of the claims made in its favor. But I insist that it is
not only unfair, but unwise, to do so without having instituted a
careful clinical investigation. The truth is, we denounce the
bigotry displayed by the old school of medicine, while, behold,
we ourselves show a detestable degree of dogmatism."
Dr Geo. M. Gould's venture, American Medicine, Vol. 1,
No. 1, April 6, comes to hand bearing every appearance of suc-
cess and of deserving it. The paper is of fine quality and the type
exceptionally pleasing to the eye, and the advertising pages
number 120, surpassing, we believe, those of any other medical
journal. Considerable space is devoted to news notes and to ab-
stracts of the chief features of the leading medical journals and
literature, besides a good array of original articles, editorial notes,
correspondence, etc.
Geranium maculatum is a great remedy for internal haemor-
rhages or external bleeding.
M. Vkrneuil recently read a paper before the French Academy
of Medicine, in which our old homoeopathic Calendula was
strongly commended. He uses it freely on all boils, carbuncles
Editorial. 237
and sores and finds it arrests the progress of the disease, allays
pain, reduces the fever, disinfects the purulent and gangrenous
centers and hastens healthy granulations. He prefers the non-
alcoholic, the succus calendula.
The case of the Detroit Health Board vs. Dr. E. L. Shurley
has been decided in favor of the defendant. The board brought
suit against the doctor for not reporting a case of tuberculosis as
a contagious disease. Dr. Shurley has been in practice since
1865, has treated more than 2,500 cases of tuberculosis and never
had known of a case contracted by contagion. The chief cause
is heredity. Has never known a case contracted by kissing, or the
communion cup, etc.; such statements should not be made unless
there is proof, "and there is no proof;" he had voluntarily in-
haled the dried sputum and had no trace of the disease. In short,
the doctor ripped the bacteriologists and theorists and board of
health men in great shape. One of the men on the other side
made the assertion that there was more danger in sleeping with a
person suffering from consumption than one from small-pox. It
is well to have the powers of health boards restrained every now
and then if the sick are to retrain any rights.
The Homoeopathic World for April reprints the first part of a
paper, from British Medical Journal, by Dr. M. Funck, of the
University of Brussels, under the title, "A Preliminary Note on
the Etiological Agent in Vaccinia and Variola." This paper con-
tains one statement that must make the advertisers of vaccine
think a bit. Dr. Funck says: "It has long been known that
freshly-prepared vaccine, that is to say, the glycerine emulsion of
the contents of the vaccine pustule, contains a very large number
of bacteria. It could hardly be otherwise, considering that vac-
cine lymph is made by scraping the pustules, and evidently that
operation cannot be conducted antiseptically. The fact that vac-
cine undergoes ' auto purification ' is acknowledged by most
bacteriologists, and we know that in three months most of the
microbes originally contained in the lymph have disappeared."
We are glad to hear that Dr. G. A. Stockwell, who made the
Medical A%e so successful at one time, is to be editor of the new
Detroit Medical Journal, which is announced for early publication.
238 Editorial.
" There is one drug I wish to call your attention to, in the
convalescence of typhoid, when the patient complains of weari-
ness, sluggish liver and deranged glandular system, and that drug
is Berberis aquifolium. It will immediately overcome the weari-
ness, produce a sense of well being, stimulate waste and repair.
It will stimulate digestion and absorption, thereby improving nu-
trition, and it will influence the entire glandular structure of the
digestive and intestinal tract." — W. L. Heeve, M. D., Tran. E.
M. S., of N. K, 1 poo.
Some of our esteemed homoeopathic exchanges are highly in-
dignant at Dr. Geo. M. Gould for sending them circulars an-
nouncing that he intends to start a new medical journal, and ask-
ing their assistance in the way of publicity. Probably the
Homceopathic Recorder and what it represents secured more
attention from Dr. Gould in the old days of the Medical News
than any other homceopathic journal, yet the fight was fair, give
and take, and, so far as this journal is concerned, not the least
degree of malice entered into the row. We know that allopathy
is wrong and that Homoeopathy is right, but if we must have
allopathic journals — and it seems we must — we wish the one con-
ducted by frank, out-spoken Gould to succeed.
New York, April 3, 1901.
Meeting of the Hah?iemann Monument Committe of the Ameri-
can Institute of Homoeopathy held at the residence of Dr. Wm.
Tod Helmuth, No. 504 Fifth avenue.
Dr. J. H. McClelland in the chair.
Present: Drs. McClelland, J. B. Gregg Custis and Wm. Tod
Helmuth, the latter appointed secretary />;-<? tern.
The president stated that the meeting had been called to con-
sider the death of Dr. Henry M. Smith, the Secretary and Treas-
urer, and to take the necessary legal steps to fill the vacancy
occasioned thereby.
On motion of Dr. Helmuth, Dr. J. B. Gregg Custis, of Wash-
ington, D. C, was nominated for Secretary and Treasurer of the
Committee. Carried.
On motion, the following preamble and resolutions were unani-
mously adopted:
Whereas, Through the death of Dr. Henry M. Smith this
Editorial. 239
Committee has lost one of its most active and efficient members,
and,
Whereas, Through the untiring energy and perseverance of
Dr. Smith much of the successful workings of this Committee can
be attributed; therefore,
Resolved, That the Hahnemann Monument Committee of the
American Institute of Homoeopathy has sustained an irreparable
loss in the demise of Dr. Smith, and offers this resolution as a
tribute to his perseverance and self-sacrifice in assisting to secure
a lasting monument to the founder of Homoeopathy in the United
States of America.
Resolved, Also, That a copy of this preamble and resolutions be
presented to the American Institute of Homoeopathy at its next
meeting in June, and to the family of Dr. Smith.
Wm. Tod Helmuth,
Secretary pro tern.
New subscriptions received for the Homoeopathic Recorder
for the remainder of the year 1901 will have to date from current
month of receipt, as the supply of back numbers is exhausted.
In a paper on " Appe?idicitis" {Medical Visitor), Dr. J. J.
Thompson gets off the following, which is not without a certain
humor:
' ' The largest number reported by any one person was 400
treated surgically, which the writer states was only about half of
the cases seen; this would make a total of 800 cases of appendicitis
under the observation of one individual; while as an antithesis to
this report we hear from several well-informed physicians, some
of whom stand- high in institute work, who positively declare
that so far as they have been able to judge they have never seen
a case of appendicitis in a practice extending over periods of from
20 to 40 3Tears; while still others of undoubted reputation main-
tain that in an active practice extending over a similar period
they have met with the average proportion of cases, all of which
they treated medically and all of which recovered under such
treatment.
" One physician naively remarks, ' I am not sure of having had
any cases of appendicitis because none have died and none have
been operated upon.' "
PERSONALS.
Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition, sailing from New York this year, pur-
chased their supply of homoeopathic drug-s from Boericke & Tafel.
The drawings of a dentist are very painful to an artist.
Yes, John, "celialgia" is very learned, but " bellyache " will be better
understood; as regards " cerevisia " you had better ask for "beer" if you
are especially thirsty.
Diphtheria mortality in Philadelphia runs nearly 17 per cent., which
doesn't look as though antitoxin had " robbed the disease of its terrors."
Dr. B. A Sawtelle has removed to Southington, Conn., and Dr. Samuel
Adams has taken his practice at Norfolk, Conn.
Morgan seems to have gone to Europe not so much for rest as " the rest."
Don't sneer at the "indicated remedy" and "the totality of the symp-
toms." Bad form in one with a degree from a homoeopathic college.
Our Indian friends will please note that the only way to obtain a degree
from an American Homoeopathic Medical College is to come to this country,
study four years and pass the final examinations.
The same friends will please note that they are expected to pay full post-
age on letters to the United States.
"Many a dollar have I earned through Dr. Burnett's Bacilliniim." — Dr.
Adams, Medical Advance.
Selling stock pays better than selling homoeopathic medicines.
We are glad to see that the Medical Advance is once more advancing.
That antitoxin paper in the February number, though, seems out of place
there.
Dr. C. O. Main, of Stonington, «Conn., thinks he holds the championship
on twin delivery — four pairs in eight weeks and all doing well. Any one
beat it ?
Dr. J. D. C. Meade has removed from Mather to Valley Junction, Wis.
"If Hahnemann were alive to-day he would only use
tinctures." Ye gods how his judgment of a homoeopathic tincture must
have changed ! Probably he would go a step further and prescribe com-
pound tablets and Hymustie.
And now the modest bacteriologists have discovered that leprosv and
elephantiasis are caused by mosquitoes. Who said the age of gullibility is
passed ?
Ostentation is the way others show off.
The poorhouse is the bogey of half the adult male population.
Wise guys assert that often the thread of a discourse is yarn.
The crippled financier can always stand alone.
The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo can give cards and spades to its
great predecessors on electricity and beat them all.
And the wise buffalo thinks that before many decades his town will throw
Chicago in the shade.
Go to Buffalo and Richfield springs.
Subsrcibe for the Recorder.
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa. JUNE, 1901. No. 6
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Thirteenth Annual Session.
The thirteenth annual session of the American Institute of
Homoeopath}' was held in Washington, D. C, beginning June
4th, 1856, and was called to order by the General Secretary,
J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa.
The roll numbered three hundred and fifty names, which was
called and corrections made where necessary.
J. R. Piper, M. D., introduced to the Institute, A. T. Bull, M.
D., of London, Canada West, a delegate from the Canadian
Homoeopathic Society.
Geo. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., was unani-
mously elected Chairman of the session, who, in a short but very
suitable address, assumed his position.
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, was elected General
Secretary; J. D. Middleton, M. D., of Baltimore, Provisional
Secretary, and Samuel S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, Treasurer.
The Board of Censors was, Walter Williamson, M. D., and
Richard Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, Pa.; J. Green, M. D.,
and J. R. Piper, M. D., of Washington, D. C, and D Janney,
M. D., of Loudoun Co., Va.
The Chairman appointed C. H. Skiff, M. D., of New Haven,
Conn.; J. R. Piper, M. D., of Washington, D. C. ; Richard
Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, Pa.; J. G. Wood, M. D., of
Salem, Mass., and J. T. Whittle, M. D., of Nashua, N. H., as a
committee to audit the Treasurer's account.
242 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
The treasurer, Samuel S. Guy, M. D., made a report which
was audited and pronounced correct. This account probably
threw some light upon the proposition made by one of the mem-
bers to limit each officer's term of service to one year.
S. B. Barlow, M. D., Committee on "Cholera" being absent,
there was again no report from the disease, and on motion of J.
P. Dake, M. D., the committee was discharged.
I. M. Ward, M. D., Committee on "Mechanical Supports," was
also absent, but as J. P. Dake, M. D., stated that he was in-
formed that Dr. Ward had his report ready, the committee was
continued.
C. D. Williams, M. D., Committee on "Small-pox," being
absent and no report yet ready, on motion of J. P. Dake, M. D.,
was discharged.
A. E. Small, M. D., Committee on "Diseases of the Respira-
tory Organs," being absent without report, was discharged on
motion of D. M. Dake, M. D.
F. R. McManus, M. D., offered the following resolution as an
act of courtesy to the Provincinal Homoeopathic Medical Society
of Canada, which Society had sent a delegate to the meeting:
Resolved, That A. T. Bull, M. D., of London, Canada West, a
delegate from the Provincial Homoeopathic Medical Society, be
invited to participate in the deliberations of the Institute.
The following applicants were recommended for membership,
as having complied with the requirements and by-laws:
Josephs. Walter, M. D., Gloucester, Mass.; Fred. M. Palmer,
M. D., Gardiner, Maine; Grenville S. Stevens, M. D., Provi-
dence, R. I.; E. W. Roberts, M. D., Harrisburg, Pa.; Henry S.
Eentz, M. D., Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia county, Pa.; M. Cote,
M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; Jas. A. Herron, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.;
Jas. M. McAllister, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; Joshua Thorne,
M. D., Washington, D. C; F. S. McManus, M. D., Baltimore,
Md.; Freeman Horton, M. D., Weare, N. H.
At the suggestion of Walter Williamson, M. D., there was a
resolution proposed that the American Institute have authority to
elect honorary members, but Dr. McManus, addressing the Chair-
man, said, the question that presents itself to my mind is whether
there is any necessity for the adoption of this resolution: whether
the Society, like all other societies, has not already the authority
to elect honorary members. If it is generally understood that
such elections cannot be made without a special provision it is
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 243
all right and I shall make no objection to it; but, unless that is
the case, it seems to me that this resolution is entirely unneces-
sary and a work of supererogation.
Dr. J. P. Dake remarked: Article Eighth of the By-Laws
specifies who shall be members of this Institute; and it seems to
me that all that would be necessary would be to add a clause to
that article, saying, " and the Board of Censors may recognize,
as honorary members of this Society, such persons as they may
deem proper." If it will be in order, I will move that as an
amendment to the eighth article.
The Chairman said it was "not now in order; the question
must first be taken on the resolution."
Dr. Williamson answered: " As there seems to be some differ-
ence of opinion with regard to the propriety of the resolution I
will withdraw it, although I do not know whether my colleagues
on the committee will approve of my doing so. The committee
were unanimously of the opinion that it would be proper to pass
such a resolution as I reported and then to elect Dr. Bull as an
honorary member of this Institute; but instead of that I will
report the name of A. T. Bull, M. D., of London, Canada West,
to be added to the list of applicants for ordinary membership."
Dr. Bull was then unanimously elected a member oi the Insti-
tute.
W. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Maine, offered the resolution,
"That in accordance with the usage and dignity of scientific
bodies, who very properly discountenance all extraordinary
efforts on the part of members of such bodies to enhance indi-
vidual interests, we, as an associated, scientific body will dis-
countenance all like extraordinary efforts on the part of the mem-
bers of this Institute; and whenever such cases come to our
knowledge, well authenticated, we will sever such members from
our connection as no longer worthy of our sympathy and fellow-
ship."
On motion of Richard Gardiner, M. D., this resolution was
laid on the table.
X. H. Warner, M. D., Committee on "Cholera," made but a
partial report on and was granted time in which to finish it.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., Committee on "Small-pox,'' gave
several excellent reasons for not having a fuU report ready, one
of which was the very broad field covered by the name of the
disease. The doctor did not understand whether he was to give
244 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
a history of the disease, or its treatment, or his own experience
with it. After considerable discussion between Drs. D. M. Dake,
W. E. Payne, F. R. McManus and Dr. Gardiner, Dr. J. P. Dake
proposed that the matter should be allowed to rest with the com-
mittee whose duty it was to arrange subjects for the different
committees, who should instruct Dr. Gardiner more definitely in
regard to it. Dr. McManus thought that the very extended re-
port upon cholera, presented by Dr. Williamson a short time be-
fore, covered the ground sufficiently, and Dr. D. M. Dake sug-
gested that the subject should treat of the relation of small-pox to
other pustular diseases, such as chicken-pox, etc. The matter
was set aside until the proper committee should take charge of it.
I. T. Talbot, M. D., Committee on " Diseases of the Respiratory
Organs," being absent, there was no report, and Dr. Samuel
Gregg moved that the subject be laid on the table, which was
adopted.
H. Robinson, M. D., Committee on "Herpes," was absent,
and having sent no report, was, on motion of D. M. Dake, M. D.,
discharged from further consideration of the subject.
For the same reason, Drs. L- Dodge and Wm. A. Gardiner,
Committee on " Medical Education," were discharged on motion
of Dr. D. M. Dake.
Samuel Gregg, M. D., of Boston, read a report from the
Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society, wThich was accepted,
and printed in the proceedings.
J. P. Dake, M. D., read a letter from D. Cowley, M. D., the
Secretary of the American Provers' Union, and a report from the
Rhode Island Homoeopathic Society. The former was ordered
printed; the latter, he moved, should be published, with the ex-
ception of the enumeration of the treatment of some particular
cases, the information not being complete.
D. M. Dake, M. D., proposed that the secretary should cor-
respond with the Rhode Island Society so as to obtain a full and
satisfactory report for the proceedings. J. P. Dake, M. D.,
agreed to the proposition, saying, that too often the reports of
diseases only gave the name of the disease and their remedies,
whereas, Homoeopathy required characteristic symptoms in order
to prescribe in accordance therewith.
A communication was read from W. Pearson, M. D., of
Dayton, Ohio, which was laid on the table.
Henry D. Paine, of Albany, being unable to be present, his
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 245
alternate, D. M. Dake, M. D., delivered the annual address on
Wednesday evening. His subject was " Reasons Why Certainty
and Stability have been precluded in the Science and Art of
Medicine as Cultivated by the Old School Methods."
He said that throughout the civilized world the fixed fact was
admitted that there were two schools in medicine, and that the
faith and doctrines of the two schools were as widely apart as the
east is from the west.
The new school taught that facts and phenomena relating to
medicine can be reduced to a fine science as the basis of uniform
art. The old school holds an opposite view, that experience is a
sufficient basis on which to found medical science and art. The
new school advocates were united in their central principles, as
drawn by Hahnemann from nature, and vindicated by facts and
phenomena.
The votaries of the old school had no such agreement, no
central creed, no general principles, no central philosophy, no
bond of union. The school was divided into factions and dis-
tracted by feuds.
He adduced reasons to show why the two schools could never
coalesce no matter how friendly their social ties might be. He
then aimed to show the main reasons why, in the old school prac-
tice, stability and certainty had been precluded.
He intimated that the fact would be regarded legitimate and
unavoidable; that each property of matter and each force in the
natural world must have its own specific test, never to be made
the test of any other property or force in matter.
Observation and experience had been the aids, together with
experiments, in establishing the facts and information upon the
subject he was investigating. Mankind had widened out his
search for facts by interrogating nature and thereby seeking in-
formation, the facts obtained being nature's response to his
inquiries, but each observation and reason must be strictly cor-
rect, for every fixed science was thus developed.
Dr. Dake said we had taken the human body, with its normal
functions, as our standard and test of comparison as the medium
through which nature is invited to give us the facts with regard
to the powers and properties of substances as medical apents and
their ability to restore the natural functions of the body.
Every medicine in the Materia Medica has been thus tested in
the light of vital tests. The Materia Medica has thus been built
246 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
up in purity and we are in possession of these instrumentalities.
After considering our fundamental rule and wondering why
the old school had failed to observe it in their search for reme-
dies on which to build their Materia Medica, he mentioned their
three leading tests for developing material.
First, the vital ; second, the comparative, and third, the ana-
logical ; and quoted three problems, as follows:
Problem 1. If the atmosphere is indispensable to life, what are
the relations of aqua fortis to the human body and its functions,
guided to your conclusion by the analogy existing between them
in chemical composition, both being composed of precisely the
same elements?
Problem 2. If the wild turnip produces asthma, whooping
cough, or sneezing, what must be the relations of all other bulbous
roots to the economy of man, judging by the similarity between
them and the wild turnip in form, color, density, etc.?
Problem 3. If the human nose and asafcetida, analyzed, are
found to be composed of precisely the same elements, what must
be the medicinal and curative relations between them ? If led to
your conclusion by the similarity between them in chemical com-
position, would you not expect to supply all deficiencies in the
nose caused by disease by the use of asafoetida ?
He closed by urging the members to go on in the development
of truth, in the light of law, that unborn millions might cheer
them for their great work when the mild influences of our medi-
cine would be felt to the utmost ends of the earth. He further
urged all to preserve unmarred the imperishable legacy which
Hahnemann had left us, and go out in this way to dispense bless-
ings to mankind and at the same time prove ourselves worthy dis-
ciples of this great apostle in medicine.
After the address the members of the Institute were sumptu-
ously entertained by Dr. Piper. The previous evening the members
had been hospitably and unexpectedly entertained by Dr. Green,
who had furnished a dainty and bountiful table for their enjoyment.
On Thursday morning, after preliminary business, J. P. Dake,
M. D., read a report from I. T. Talbot, M. D., Committee on
" Diseases of the Respiratory Organs," which was accepted, but,
on Dr. Gregg's proposal, was referred back to Dr. Talbot, be-
cause of his having been so engaged as to have had insufficient
time to devote to the subject, and they desired a more extended
report from him.
American Institute of Homoeopatliy. 247
W. Williamson, M. D., proposed that Michael Demetrius
Kalopothakes be invited to a seat in the Institute, and to take
part in its deliberations. He stated that Mr. Kalopothakes was a
native of Greece and had finished a four years' course in the Uni-
versity at Athens. He had spent three years in study in this
country, desiring to take a degree before returning home to be-
come editor of a periodical in which he intended to do good ser-
vice for Homoeopathy. The gentleman was welcomed to a seat in
the Institute.
J. P. Dake, M. D., stated that at the meeting of the Institute
in 1855, he had moved to strike out that article of the By-Laws
which required the appointment of a Central Bureau for the
Augmentation and Improvement of the Materia Medica. He
had done so because the Bureau had made no report for a year
or two, and also because the subject of the Materia Medica had been
taken in hand by the American Provers' Union of Philadelphia.
After the meeting he had received a letter from B. F. Joslin,
M. D., of New York, upon the subject, which he read, and then
moved that the ninth article of the By-Laws be re-enacted,
which was agreed upon.
Dr. J. P. Dake also directed the attention of the Institute to
Dr. Henry S. Lentz, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia county, Pa.,
who being a learned and wealthy gentleman, had devoted him-
self to the preparation of high attenuations of Homoeopathic
medicines. Drs. Dake, Small and Semple had visited Dr. Lentz,
in order to see his mode of attenuation, and had found the doctor
extremely careful and particular, allowing no one to touch a vial
or cork in his laboratory. As the school was making use of high
attenuations with good effect Dr. Dake thought it was important
to know that the high attenuations, even to the four thousandth,
might be procured from Dr. Lentz, whose preparations could be
thoroughly relied upon.
D. M. Dake, M. D., proposed that the resolution submitted by
W. E. Payne, M. D., be taken from the table, and after some
discussion the resolution was amended, and on motion of J. P.
Dake, M. D., it was accepted as follows:
Resolved, That in accordance with the usage and dignity of
scientific bodies, who very properly discountenance all extraor-
dinary efforts on the part of the members of such bodies to en-
hance individual interests to the sacrifice of professional dignity
and decorum, we, as an associated, scientific body, will discoun-
248 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
tenance all like extraordinary efforts on the part of the members
of this Institute; and whenever such cases come to our knowl-
edge, well authenticated, we will sever such members from our
connection as no longer worthy of our sympathy and fellowship.
Upon this decision Dr. D. M. Dake submitted this resolution:
That upon evidence furnished by members of the Provincial
Homoeopathic Society of Canada West, and upon the character
of certain hand-bills, Dr. Dioclesian Lewis be expelled, without
delay from the Institute, for having made extraordinary and
notorious efforts to enhance his individual interests to the sacrifice
of professional dignity and decorum, and to the injury of scien-
tific medicine.
A. T. Bull, M. D., made a statement of facts which had come
to his knowledge in reference to the conduct of Dr. Lewis, and
he submitted letters and documents establishing the charges that
had been made against him.
N. H. Warner, M.D., of Buffalo, corroborated the statement of
Dr. Bull and gave additional testimony of a similar character.
The Chairman remarked that the present case differed from Dr.
Humphreys' case, in that the latter was present to speak in his
own defense, while Dr. Lewis was not there to defend himself;
but as the offense was so flagrant, and the facts so notorious, the
point of his absence was immaterial.
Dr. J. P. Dake mentioned that it was the general rule in such
bodies to notify a member before he was censured or expelled, in
order to permit of self-defence, unless the crime was flagrant and
the evidence prima facie, or beyond extenuation. He thought
this case was so entirely clear that there was no necessity for
delay, for every moment that the culprit remained in membership
would be degrading to the Institute and disgraceful to its mem-
bers. He hoped that measures would be taken at once and the
Secretary be notified to inform Dr. Lewis of the action of the In-
stitute. Dr. Warner asked whether in case this man was expelled
he could bring a suit for libel against the Society.
The Chairman said that if Dr. Lewis believed he had any
remedy at law he was at liberty to try to recover damages. It
was for the members of the Institute to decide whether they were
willing to assume the responsibility.
W. Williamson, M. D., said that if Dr. Lewis had gained ad-
mission by deceit and fraud, or any kind of imposition, his mem-
bership was not valid. He stated that he thought it was fully
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 249
substantiated that the Committee on Elections had been imposed
upon, and if he were expelled there could be no ground for a
libel suit.
S. Gregg, M. D., stated a case which happened in the Massa-
chusetts Medical Society. A member had been expelled for im-
morality growing out of some transactions with a fellow phy-
sician, where he sold his right to practice medicine. He sought
redress from the Supreme Court of the State, and its decision
was that every scientific body had the right to regulate its own
proceedings and the Court had no jurisdiction over the matter.
S. S. Guy, M. D., referred to the expulsion of Dr. Humphreys,
and thought that if a libel suit could be brought for such action
on the part of the Institute it would have been done then.
The question was taken upon the resolution and it was adopted,
thus severing all connection, by expulsion, with Dioclesian Lewis,
M. D.
This gave rise to the following resolution submitted by Dr. Gar-
diner and seconded by Dr. McManus, and adopted by the Institute:
Resolved, That the evidence of the ' ' Provincial Homoeopathic
Society of Canada West, and the extensive program of Dr.
Dioclesian Lewis, leading, with other testimony, to his expulsion
from this Institute, be carefully preserved with the archives of
the Institute.
Probably in pursuance of the necessary expulsion of two of the
members of the Institute, S. S. Guy, M. D., made the resolution
that a committee of three be appointed for the purpose of drawing
up and presenting to the Institute, for consideration at its next
session, a proper code or system of Medical Ethics.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., moved to amend the resolution by
referring the subject of Medical Ethics to the Committee on
Scientific Subjects, which was agreed to. J. P. Dake, M. D.,
moved that the next meeting of the Institute should be held in
Chicago, 111., on the first Wednesday in June, 1857. A dis-
cussion followed, Dr. Williamson proposing Boston; Dr. Guy
suggesting Brooklyn, and Dr. McManus advocating Cincinnati.
The question being submitted, Dr. Dake's motion carried.
The two following resolutions, proposed by J. Green, M. D.,
were passed unanimously:
Resolved, That the American Institute of Homoeopathy cause
to be presented, through its secretary, a complete set of its trans-
actions, handsomely bound, to the Smithsonian Institution.
2,50 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Resolved, That the cordial thanks of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy be tendered to the Honorable Board of Regents of
the Smithsonian Institution, for the kindness manifested by them
in permitting the Institute to hold their thirteenth anniversary
meeting in its hall; and that the secretary be instructed to com-
municate this resolution to that body through its secretary, Prof.
Henry.
The Committee on Scientific Subjects appointed by the Chair-
man was composed of J. P. Dake, M. D., Samuel Gregg, M. D.,
and W. E. Payne, VI. D.
The Treasurer read several communications from members of
the Institute in reference to their dues, etc., and moved that a
committee be appointed to examine the unsettled and disputed
accounts. The Chairman appointed N. H. Warner, M. D.,
Richard Gardiner, M. D., and G. W. Barns, M. D., to act as
such committee. Amherst Childs, M. D., of Waterloo, N. Y.,
sent a letter stating that he was not, nor never had been, a member
of the Institute. His name was, therefore, removed from the roll.
H. P. Gatchell, M. D., of Cleveland, O., sent a communication
asking that his name be dropped from the roll.
Dr. Guy stated that Dr. Gatchell was indebted to the Society
for annual dues, etc., whereupon Dr. McManus moved that his
request be complied with when his indebtedness had been paid.
J. G. G. Pherson, M. D., of Philadelphia, sent a letter contain-
ing his dues and expressing a desire to withdraw. On motion of
Dr. Williamson his resignation was accepted.
The Treasurer then submitted his report of delinquent members
and the sums of their indebtedness to the Institute, and moved
that all members being in arrears more than two dollars, at the
next session, be stricken from the roll.
Dr. Gregg hoped the resolution would not be adopted.
Dr. J. P. Dake moved to amend it by withholding the copies
of the proceedings from such members. Dr. McManus said, if the
copies were withheld, it would only keep such members from
knowing what the Institute was doing and proposed publishing
their names as a black list and sending them a copy.
Dr. Guy said he had tried to do his duty faithfully, and he
thought if a member was unwilling to pay one dollar a year that
he displayed very little interest, and that the Institute would
prosper better without them, just as a fruit tree, would thrive
better without dead branches.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 251
G. W. Swazey, M. D., resigned the chair temporarily to J. P.
Dake, M. D., in order to oppose both the resolution and amend-
ment.
J. P. Dake, M. D., took this opportunity to apologize for not
having published the thousand copies of Dr. Pulte's address, and
the two thousand copies of Dr. Joslin's letter. He said his only
reason was lack of money. The order of the Institute not being
complied with, on account of the depleted treasury, it seemed
only proper that those wThose fault it was should have the Pro-
ceedings withheld from them.
Dr. S. S. Guy said there was more importance attached to the
matter than appeared at first, and that the Proceedings of last
year would not have been published if Dr. Ball and himself had
not advanced the money. He said it was no small job to keep
the accounts and attend to the business of Treasurer, and that with
all his efforts he had not been able to collect one-fifth of the
amount due. Dr. McManus asked how much was collected, to
which Dr. Guy replied three hundred dollars. Dr. McManus
thought that pretty good for one year, but Dr. Guy said that
they owed Dr. Ball seventy dollars, and had owed it to him for
two or three years.
The resolution was then modified by its mover and was agreed
to stand as follows:
Resolved, " That the Proceedings of the Institute, published
by the General Secretary, be withheld from all members of the
Institute whose arrearage or dues shall amount to more than two
dollars at the next meeting. ' '
J. P. Dake, M. D., Chairman of the Committtee on Scientific
Subjects, submitted his report as follows: C. Hering, M. D., of
Philadelphia, Pa., and G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield,
Mass., a Committee on " Medical Education Necessary in Ho-
moeopathic Practice."
S. Gregg, M. D., of Boston, Mass., and D. M. Dake, M. D.,
of Pittsburg, Pa., a Committee on " Mechanical Means as Aids in
Homoeopathic Practice."
C M. Dake, M. D., of Genesee, N. Y., a Committee on
" Anaesthetic Agents, their Use and Abuse."
Richard Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, Pa., a Committee
on "Small-pox and Kindred Pustular Diseases."
W. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Maine, a Committee on "Repe-
tition and Alternation of Remedies in Homoeopathic Practice."
252 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., and J. H. Pulte, M. D.,
of Cincinnati, Ohio, a Committee on "Water, as a Therapeutic
Agent."
P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, L. I., a Committee on "The
Attenuation of Medicines."
A. T. Bull, M. D., of London, Canada West, and S. S. Guy,
M. D., of Brooklyn, E. I., a Committee on the use of " Domestic
Books and Cases. ' '
W. Williamson, M. D., and A. E. Small, M. D., of Philadel-
phia, Pa., a Committee on " Ethics in Medicine."
D. S. Smith, M. D., of Chicago, 111., a Committee on " Inter-
mittent Fever and its Homoeopathic Treatment. ' '
N. H. Warner, M. D., Chairman of the committee to examine
the unsettled and disputed accounts of the members, with the
Treasurer, submitted a report which proved the entire disability
of S. R. Kirby, M. D., to keep correct accounts. Members who
had paid were sometimes not credited and the books showed a
deficit of $118.26, represented by notes from Dr. Kirby, which
he failed time after time to make good. The committee, there-
fore, submitted the following resolutions which were adopted:
Resolved, " That those members who have paid in part to S. R.
Kirby, M. D., the late Treasurer, without credit, and the balance
to the present Treasurer, be credited in full to the time noted by
the Treasurer. ' ' And ' ' That those members who have paid in
excess, under protest, shall have such excess put to their credit
for future dues." Sundry bills were presented which were ac-
cepted and ordered to be paid.
The Chair appointed as the Central Bureau of Materia Medica,
B. F. Joslin, M. D., of New York; W. E. Payne, M. D., of
Bath, Maine; P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, E. I.; Jacob
Jeanes, M. D., of Philadelphia, Pa., and J. P. Dake, M. D., of
Pittsburg, Pa.
On motion of J. P. Dake, M. D., it was, Resolved, "That the
Central Bureau on Materia Medica be instructed to draw up, and
present, at the next meeting of the Institute, a report on the
present state of our Materia Medica, together with the best
methods for its improvement."
W. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Maine, offered a resolution
proposing that the Institute should recommend, to American
Homoeopathic physicians, the high attenuations of medicines
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 253
prepared by Dr. Henry S. Lentz, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia,
as altogether reliable.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, mentioned his ex-
perience of the efficacy of high potencies in cases of scarlatina.
He agreed with Dr. Dake in his rernraks regarding high attenua-
tion.
Dr. Payne said that his resolution had been misunderstood. It
was not his intention to recommend the high attenuations but
merely to recommend the fidelity with which they were prepared
by Dr. Lentz, in order that any one wishing to use them might
know they were procurable in this country.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., was willing to bestow all honor upon
Dr. Lentz, but he thought there was a question of principle in-
volved in the Institute endorsing individuals in the profession,
and he did not agree to the resolution.
Dr. Gregg observed that it was a rule of common law that no
individual should be allowed to testify on the ipse dixit of any
one else. It was proper for those who had tested the medicines to
certify to their purity and efficacy, but the members who had not
done so, should not be asked to attest their truth.
J. P. Dake, M. D., made a few additional remarks favoring the
resolution.
Dr. McManus thought the preparations might be recom-
mended by our Medical College, but it would be improper for the
Institute, as a body, to do so.
The question was not agreed to by the Institute.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., offered a resolution, which was
unanimously adopted: "That the thanks of the Institute be
voted to Dr. Piper and Dr. Green and their ladies for their
noble acts of hospitality."
On motion, D. S. Smith, M. D., of Chicago, 111., was appointed
a Committee of Arrangements for the next meeting.
The Chairman appointed J. S. Douglas, M. D., of Milwaukee,
Wis., to deliver the next annual address, with W. K. Payne,
M. D., of Bath, Me., as his alternate.
Dr. McManus made a resolution offering a vote of thanks to
D. M. Dake, M. D., for his able lecture, and asked for a copy
for publication in the Proceedings.
On motion of S. S. Guy, M. D., Dr. W. Pearson's letter was
taken from the table and filed.
F. R. McManus, M. D., then read an essay on the subject of
254 Odors of Disease.
" High and Low Dilutions,'' but it being so near time for ad-
journment there was no discusion of the subject.
Dr. McManus proposed a resolution of thanks to S. S. Guy,
M. D., the Treasurer, for his indefatigable work; to J. P. Dake,
M. D., the General Secretary, for the ability with which he per-
formed his duties, and to G. \V. Swazey, M. D., the Chairman,
for his distinguished ability as presiding officer.
Dr. Swazey made a few feeling remarks in return, and then
pronounced the Institute adjourned, to meet in Chicago, on the first
Wednesday in June, 1857, at ten o'clock a. m.
ODORS OF DISEASE.
W. B. Clarke, M. D., Indianapolis, Ind.
(Indianapolis Homoeopathic Medical Society, April, 1901.
That our subject is, or should be, one of the greatest practical
interest to physicians in their work is undeniable, and that it has
been neglected in general medical literature is equally true. But
it is not my intention on this occasion (nor have you the time) to
make an elaborate or exhaustive presentation or study of the
matters connected with it. Hahnemann showed how and why
certain sicknesses had been cured hy simply smelling the medicine.
So why can we not profitably study how to diagnose a disease by
its odor? And that a slight modification of our subject has a
commercial aspect and value may be shown in the following
clipping: "A few drops of any perfumed oil will secure
libraries from the consuming effects of moldiness and damp.
Russian leather, which is perfumed with the tar of the birch tree,
never molds, and merchants suffer large bales of this article to lie
in the London docks in the most careless manner, knowing that
it can sustain no injury from damp."
It might be appropriate to premise with a few words about odors
in health, or at least the odors from the human body which we en-
counter when that body is presumably in a state of health. And
it may be doubted whether healthy persons, properly bathed,
carry an odor which should be perceptible to ordinary olfactories.
Some persons possess or are surrounded by an aura so sweet and
permeating that the sense of smell of some people may be beguiled
into the impressioL that they smell sweet. But in our calculations
we must here take care to eliminate those human fairies who, not
Odors of Disease. 255
quite sure of the inertness of their bodily emanations, disguise or
smother them with artificial perfumes ranging all the way from
musk, civet, asafcetida or limburger cheese to the highest
products of French enfleurage, such as attar of roses, frangipanui
or patchouli.
Then comes the question of distinctive race smell. Does each
race have an odor of its own? Should it be that we could make
the rounds of the human menagerie and pick out the representatives
of each race with our noses? We are all familiar with the
African smell — enough to know that it is usually there — and are
getting acquainted with the Chinese and Italian smells. The
smell of a white man in an tepee or wigwam soon becomes intoler-
able to an Indian. And is each race immune to its own smell,
noticing only the odor of one of another race ?
Then there are odors, more or less pronounced, in those
apparently in good health, due to aberrations in some function,
secretion or excretion. Two very marked ones occurring in my
practice come to mind : One was a young and buxom red-check-
ed woman, strong, and apparently in good health, whose mens-
strual discharge was accompanied with such a pervasive, if not
persuasive, odor that few could stay in the room with her,
and at those times she had to adopt the expedient of absenting
herself from society, or rather association with people. The other
was a man in apparent good health, with a profuse sweating from
the region directly beneath the axilla. Upon boaring the surface
at any time the secretion could be seen extruding and trickling
down the side, of a consistence a little thicker than perspiration,
and of a most peculiar, disagreeable and penetrating odor, filling
a room in a few minutes, and adhering to the furnishings for an
hour after the man's departure. Hepar sulphur as the remedy-
was of material advantage in both these cases. (Another case,
which I could not prescribe for, showing that the bodv odors are
not always objectionable to their generators, was that of a bio-
fat negro cook who wore a wad of absorbent cotton in her axilla
from which region she would at times slyly extract it and take
a whiff of perfume, causing me to change my boarding house.)
The ammoniacal smell commonly clinging to old men, due to
retained or dribbling urine, is only one of a number of similar
instances that may occur to our minds, more or less mechanical
in character, not usually associated with actual diseases.
Then there is the perfuming influence of food and medicine
256 Odors of Disease.
on the secretions or excretions, as of asparagus and turpentine
on the urine, for familiar examples.
Then there is the influence of occupation, environment or as-
sociation, that often may not be inconsiderable, individual in-
stances of which have probably come under the notice of each of
you. And these occupation odors may persist through a severe ill-
ness, as in the case cited by Chomel, where the sweat of a groom
suffering from pneumonia retained for six weeks the smell of the
stable; or the children who came from a home where almost every
thing they ate was fried, and who constantly carried a fried odor
with them. Parallel with this point is the saying of the famous
Parisian detective, Vidocq: " Place me in a crowd, and there I
will pick out from among a thousand a galley-bird by the smell
alone."
And as there are those whose sense of smell is hyper-acute,
there are those, perhaps often more highly favored, who can
smell very poorly. They may be placed with that happy class
which, by reason of partial deafness, is relieved of the annoy-
ance of the raspings of the little unnecessary noises so inseparable
from city life.
And as there are sounds we cannot hear, so there are odors we
cannot perceive, but which our intelligent friends next lower in
the animal kingdom readily sense. I have rarely had this truth
so plainly brought to my attention as at the time, in the fall of
1886, when the body of Mrs. Millis, found to have been turned to
adipocere, was disentombed, entire and perfectly natural, after
thirty-six years' repose in Greenlawn in this city. The metal
casket, sealed with lead, with a glass face, was in a large room at
the undertaker's. Those in charge, as well as the experts and
visiting physicians, declared that there was absolutely no odor
emanating from the casket, nor could I detect any. When I
entered the large room I was accompanied by my dog, a huge
Danish mastiff, a breed not noted for acuteness of smell, and the
animal went at once to the casket and sniffed all around it in a
tour of observation. Yet, interesting as this was, for nicety or
acuteness it could not compare with the feat of a hound following
for miles the shoe-trail of a strange man, leading over all kinds
of substances, ranging from soft earth to solid stone, or of a setter
standing for a covey of birds through and beyond another flock.
The bovine race, while supreme in sensing vegetation odors, has
little sensibility to the animal odors so keenly appreciated by the
Odors of Disease. 257
carnivora, while the latter are as little influenced by the odors of
plants and flowers. And who shall say that it is not ordained that
the natural fear or love of animals for man is not profoundly in-
fluenced by the odor he carries or emits ?
While man is far inferior to these animals in acuteness of smell
(they having a special epithelial arrangement called Jacobson's
organ for the purpose of scent), his sphere of susceptibility to
various odors is more uniform and extended. His delicacy of
smell is so remarkable that in some instances (according to
Valentine) it can discern the presence of bodies in quantities so
minute as to be indiscoverable even by spectrum analysis, as, for
instance, three one-hundred-millionth part of a grain of musk.
The friction of the electric machine produces in some a smell like
that of phosphorus, and the galvanic current excites a smell like
ammonia or acid, as the poles are used. And very nervous
people may even smell something that is net present, and which
others cannot appreciate, just as some odors may be agreeable to
some persons and intolerable to others.
The mechanism of the perception of odorous substances is about
as little understood as is that of visual or auditory impressions.
But we need not at this time pay much attention to the basic
anatomical or physiological minutiae connected with the sense of
smell, nor attempt to clear up the inexplicable cause or workings
of that indefinable something which draws the line or constitutes
the difference between what we appreciate as or call a good or bad
odor. However, it may be well to add that we know nothing
about the nature of odorous substances, and if we want to de-
scribe a certain odor we have to give the name of the substance
which produces it or which it resembles. The act of smelling
takes place by contact of air, laden with odorous particles, with
the olfactory portion of the nasal chambers, and odorous particles
give rise to olfaction only when suspended in gaseous media.
For example, scented water poured into the nose (the tester be-
ing in a recumbent position) and kept there by the reflex closure
of the nasal fossa by the soft palate, is not smelled, nor does a
scented air current passing from the pharynx to the nares (back
to front) give rise to an odorous impression. Thus, persons hav-
ing habitually an offensive breath do not perceive it themselves,
as in the case of catarrh, or onion eaters, though, of course,
habit, or, rather, dulling of the olfactory nerve's sensibility be-
cause of long familiarity with one odor, would end in uncon-
258 Odors of Disease.
sciousuess of that odor, as sometimes happens in the vomitings
from cancer of the stomach. Headache and severe sickness or
faintings may result from this same continuous odor irritation, as
has happened in choirs and at funerals where large masses of
flowers, especially tuberoses, are displayed and the atmosphere is
heavy and close.
The sense of smell may be cultivated to a wonderful degree.
Remembering this, and considering its possible importance at
times in the way of certainty, ease and rapidity of diagnosis, and
in occasional changes or variations in cases of illness, as well as in
the ordering of the arrangement of the sick-room, the physician
should keep a nose well attuned to all the finer feelings and en-
deavor to cultivate its astuteness. The blind and deaf, deprived
of senses, sometimes develop the others marvelously, that of smell
almost equaling the dog's, and the same is true of aborigines,
whose life may be a constant struggle for food or safety. Hys-
terical and insane people are also noted for acuteness in this re-
spect, and some of the occult judgments and performances of
somnambulists are dependent upon ability in this direction.
Coming now to the specific odors emanating from certain
cases of disease, I wish to apologize, because of the paucity
of the literature on the subject, for my inability to present
a longer list, indeed, a definite one for every disease. I be-
lieve it reasonable to think that such a result is as possible as it
i- desirable. It has taken some picking and browsing to compile,
from authorities and personal experience, the list of special
pathognomonic odors I submit. And I hope that each of you
may be able to make additions to it, now or in the future, and
that in this way a collection may be gathered that will prove of
great use both to ourselves and others in the way of lightening
and expediting our work. I w7ould suggest that, in the effort to
avail yourselves to the utmost of the advantages of this help in
diagnosis, you be particular to work early in the contact with
the case and its surroundings, as first impressions are here ths
best, and because the nose may soon get tired of a continuous
performance and refuse to do its best or nicest work. It is be-
cause of this fact that the overpowering odor of flowers (as cited
above) has reflexly caused quite severe sickness, even among
well people, as for instance, in a choir in close atmosphere,
headache, vomiting and unconsciousness; even the presence of a
small bouquet in a sick room will often in a very short time make
Odors of Disease. 259
the patient worse. While it may be difficult to insure the exacti-
tude, or even the practical value of all the assertions, deductions
or symptoms here given, I believe that enough has been adduced
to clearly show that disease is not bounded by the surface or body,
but goes beyond it.
The following presents some of the special pathognomonic
odors that have not been previously noticed in this paper:
Were I pinned down to one word for each of the sexes by
which to depict them by their odor, the words would be codfish
and mushroom. That is, a woman's distinctive smell is that of a
codfish and a man's that of a mushroom; and these odors are sexual
in their origin.
In gout the skin secretions take a special odor, which Syden-
ham compares to that of whey; we may call it sourish, perhaps
all not knowing the smell of whey; and there is more ammonia in
the sweat.
In rheumatism the odor is acetoformic, particularly in the
region of the engorged articulations (Monin). We may call it a
sour-smelling acid perspiration.
In diabetes the smell is sweetish, mawkish; of hay, according
to Latham, or rather acetone (Picot), or, according to Bouchardat,
midway between aldehyde and acetone, being due to mixture, in
variable proportions, of those two bodies.
In jaundice, chronic peritonitis and icterus the odor is of
musk.
In scrofulosis it is like that of stale or sour beer, as fixed by
Stark and Hebra.
In oppilation there is a vinegar smell.
A person with pyaemia has a sweet, nauseating breath, or of new-
mown hay.
In intermittent fever the odor is that of fresh-baked brown
bread, and in scarlet fever that of fresh baked common bread.
Yellow fever has a cadaveric smell, or like the washings of a
gun barrel.
Typhoid fever has a kind of musty smell, often of the odor of
blood. In typhus fever it is ammoniacal and mouse-like.
In measles it is measly, or like fresh-plucked feathers.
In milk fever the smell is acid.
Hysterical patients have an odor of violets, and the insane a
kind of menagerie smell.
Sudamina has a putrid-straw odor.
260 Odors of Disease.
Otorrhoea has a clinging, long-lasting odor, not forgotten when
once sensed.
Scabies has a moldy odor, and uraemia an ammoniacal odor.
The dreadful odor of a case of ozsena or bad case of catarrh, as
bad as a hen-roost, is familiar to all.
The atmosphere surrounding a professional onanist will have a
rotten, mushroom-like odor, and an ill kept libertine will com-
bine this with a codfish smell.
In cholera the odor is ammoniacal (Drasch, Parker), and the
discharges have a spermatic (mushroom-like) odor.
Diphtheria has a sickening, gangrenous odor, and absolutely
pathognomonic in case the patient has not been attended before it
appeared.
Gangrene has an old, dead-meat smell, and so have some can-
cers at certain stages. If there is much old pus from an actively
breaking-down cancer the odor is more often like that of decay-
ing fish, and the smell of sarcomas is more apt to be of the latter
character.
In the onset period of the plague the odor is sweet (Diemer-
broeck), or honey-like, according to Doppner, who observed the
plague at Vetlanka, as described in the London Lancet of Feb. i,
1879.
Smallpox has a characteristic odor of its own, but modified as
to the severity and stage of the disease, ranging from that of a
fallow deer to the dreadful one of a whole menagerie; or it may
be like that of a burnt horn; if it's a cow's horn, perhaps it's the
far-famed bovine vaccination working out. And as to its usual
orrollary, vaccination, it rankly smells to heaven, and its steps
take hold on hell.
Berard says that, apart from the secretions, the cutaneous odor
draws flies to the human body, and that, however little noticeable
it may be, this denotes that death is near; and Boerhaave (aphor-
ism 728 of the editio princeps) says that a cadaveric odor precedes
death. Dr. Althaus tells us that Skoda was hardly ever led into
error by this indication, and Compton, of Birmingham, also laid
great stress upon this as an important clinical symptom. But
the smell given out at the death agony is totally different
from the death odor, or of putridity, and is universalis7 admitted
to be specific. Is it that of the soul f As the soul dies with the
body, and is resurrected with it, is this an unreasonable question?
But this body, soul, and spirit proposition is another story, too
long for consideration just now, and a trifle complicated, too.
Pilocarpine and Morphine. 261
PILOCARPINE AND MORPHINE.
By "The Country Doctor."
It is about fifteen years ago when some eminent member of the
profession strongly advocated the use of small or medium doses of
A tropin together with the usual dose of Morphine used in
hyopdermic medication. The suggestion was at once well received
and has been in fashion ever since, although to me it has not been
perfectly clear why. I know onry of one particular instance
where this combination is of absolute value, and that is when
injected before Ether is administered in surgical cases. At such
times the Morphine creates a tranquillity of the patient's mind
that greatly helps the successful use of the Ether, while the
Atropi7i dries up the secretions from the bronchial tubes, or
rather retards its increased production by the anaesthetic. In this
particular instance I admit its effect, but for everyday use, to
overcome pain or produce sleep, I frankly admit that I do not like
the combination.
In its place I strongly recommend the profession to try the
combination of Pilocarpine and Morphine, -^ grain of the former
to \ grain of the latter, or y1^ grain to J-, or, as I generally use,
-J- grain P. to \ grain M. To my mind this is a very useful
combination for general practice, the Pilocarpine increasing the
secretions of the various glands in about the same rate as the
Morphine checks secretion and leaves the patient with less damage
afterwards than anything else that I know of.
Lately I have been unfortunate enough to have several patients,
to whom it was necessary to administer from 3 to 6 grains [?]
Morphine daily, hypodermically, for a month or two. Of course,
under such doses, to persons not in the Morphine habit, total
paralysis of bowels and bladder will occur, and, in fact, did occur
whenever I was out of Pilocarpine; but when I made a combina-
tion as above described, or in that ratio, but never administering
more than \ grain of Pilocarpine at any one time even if the
Morphine amounted to 2 grains, I had scarcely any trouble at all.
The difference is so great and so beneficial that I earnestly wish it
was possible for me to show the effect to every physician in the
land.
Years ago, when I was young and foolish, I used to pride
myself upon how little I used the hypodermic syringe. I was
proud of the fact that it was always dried up or out of order as
262 Mission of the Institute.
a proof of non-use; but I have bravely got over that idea some
years ago and nowadays use Morphine very frequently, and in
acute eases often find it all the treatment needed, — although I
never used it in pneumonia until last winter, after I got the hang
of combining Pilocarpine with it; wThen so used there is no danger
of drying up the secretions, to do which generally means death
to the patient, — and the more I use MorpJmie in acute cases the
better I like it, and the patient is satisfied, pain, fever and fear re-
lieved and a dose of cathartics next morning is all that is needed.
After surgical operations I have always disliked to use Morphine
if I possibly could get along without it, as the clogging up of the
various secretions does not help the process of healing any, but
used as here described it becomes safe; try it.
Be careful, however, with women well advanced in pregnancy,
or after operations upon the female organs, for Pilocarpi?ie is
liable to create some very troublesome crampy, contracting pains
in the uterus in some women, but not in all, just as it affects the
testes in some men. If given alone, without Morphine, it can
create severe hiccup, and will, as a rule, affect the left eye, almost
blinding some people. I hope some enterprising manufacturing
pharmacist will put up molded (not pressed) hypodermic tablets
in the three sizes here advocated, for none, to my knowledge, is
upon the market, and I feel sure that if this was done, and the
physicians in general became acquainted with the working of the
combination, the demand for such tables would be almost as great
as for the Atropin and MorpJmie tablet of today. The " Cheap
John " of the profession, however, will not bother about this im-
provement, for Pilocarpine is one of the most expensive alkaloids.
New Sweden, Maine.
THE MISSION OF THE INSTITUTE.
By T. C. Duncan, M. D., Chicago.
One cannot read the records of the early meetings of the
American Institute of Homoeopathy, as being recounted by Dr.
Bushrod Washington James, without feeling that the fathers of
our faith in this country had a clear idea of the mission this
Society was destined to perform. They were earnest men in a
noble cause. The choice of meeting places in the various large
cities and points of influence shows that they felt that this
Mission of the Institute. 263
Society must be used to the utmost to advance the cause the}- had
championed. Then there was an orator chosen to give an address,
to hear whom the people were invited.
There were many copies of this address printed for physicians to
distribute among the people. The Institute in that day was the
Society propaganda. In 1857 this Society came to Chicago, as
far away from New York then as Sm Francisco is now. For
years the query was, where can we take the Institute where it will
do the most good for the cause ? That was the spirit that took
the Institute to St. Louis in 1868, Boston in 1869, when we had
a reception by the city fathers, and in 1870 when it came to
Chicago. The same spirit took it to Philadelphia in 1876, to
Chicago in 1893, and Omaha in 1S98. The idea of influencing
the Pan American representatives no doubt influenced the choice
of Niagara Falls. The burning spirit of those who fight the
battles of similia all along the line would carry the Institute to
points where the most good could be done for Homoeopathy.
For years the mission of the managers has been to erect a
monument to Hahnemann, the great man of his day and our day.
That has been accomplished. In Washington and Paris are endur-
ing monuments to the founder of the medical revolution we
represent and champion. The history of these two events and
what they represent should be well written, translated into every
language represented in the Institute and scattered far and wide,
that the cause may win its conquering way to earth's remotest
bounds.
The plans and purposes of the Institute should be carefully
formulated, well understood and enthusiastically carried out.
The spirit of the fathers should still guide it, from conquering to
conquer. That would cause it to meet at objective points — west,
south, east, and even across the borders. Delegates from the
body could help the cause in Mexico, Europe, India and Australia.
It would seem that the world is our field.
Some wisdom might be gathered from those who manage this
American Medical Association and its cohorts. The lesser bodies
this year meet in Washington, New York, Niagara Falls, Chicago
and Milwaukee, while the matter of this large family will
capture St. Paul and the region round about. The Institute
might foster some children also. Have we not a Surgical Society
and an O. andO. Society ? There was a Paedological Society and
other off-shoots. A Materia Medica Society was incubated Let
264 Data Wanted.
it be hatched and take up the restudy and reproving of our
artillery. These lesser bodies could meet at various points, on its
way to the grand gathering at an influential centre. It might be
to antidote the influence that detracts from the cause as will be
felt, e.g., at the twin cities. Remember that enthusiasm can
make up for lack of numbers. A large board of censors or -a
council could be in continuous session and admit qualified candi-
dates to membership. The certificate of membership and copies
of the transaction displayed at all medical gatherings would enroll
applicants constantly. The President of the Institute should
visit the various State Societies to emphasize its purposes and
mission. Let all the forces be mustered to advance the great
cause of medical reform.
DATA WANTED,
Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
Some years ago the ever numerous Life, of New York, uttered
a truism in about the following words: " Whenever the medical
profession once adopts a fad it is powerful slow in breaking away,"
and the remark is applicable to the practice of vaccination.
It is not the purpose of the writer to combat the question of its
prophylactic powers. Reliable statistics prove (?) that it is a
preventive of variola. Equally responsible information shows
that it is valueless. Vaccination is here objected to solely on
principle. It is disgusting; unreasonable because of doubtful
efficacy; unscientific in introducing into a healthy system a poison
to prevent a disease which that person may never be exposed to,
or susceptible of, septic, unclean.
It has been aptly said that if vaccination was believed in by
those who practiced it quarantine would not be required. If the
vaccinated are immune, why keep them away from the disease ?
In recent conversation with a very good prescriber the writer
was astonished to learn that he not only vaccinated continually,
but that he had never questioned the advisability of it. On the
other hand, there are thousands of laymen who know of ill effects
having arisen from it, and who only submit to the assumed
authority of the various health boards in order to get their
children into school.
We have all seen baneful results from this virus. Any physi-
Data Wanted. 265
cian who denies the fact makes an acknowledgment that he has had
a meagre practice. If we do not thus transmit scrofula, syphilis,
or phthisis we are liable to. Why disinfect one's instruments for
fear of conveying poison from a previous operation and volun-
tarily introduce this into a healthy constitution.
There are many conscientious physicians who do not know of
any other means of preventing the disease who are, nevertheless,
opposed to vaccination; who know that the credit given to the
scarcity of variola is not wholly due to vaccination; who are
aware of the fact that all pestilential diseases appear in unac-
countable waves, and that very much praise should be attributed
to improve sanitation.
Homoeopaths know that there are other and safer, if not better,
preventives. Certain internal medicines are prophylactics, and it
is to demonstrate this fact that this paper has been written. Vac-
cininum (a potentization of the virus beyond its toxic force) is used
by some; Variolinum (similarly prepared from the actual morbific
product) by others; and, best of all, Malandrinum (which is more
homoeopathic because "similar" though not of the same) is evi-
dently effectual in preventing the disease and is known to cure ill
effects of vaccination — will prevent vaccination from " taking."
If intelligent allopaths, who are ignorant of any other prophy-
lactic, should prefer to allow their families and patients to run the
risk of contagion rather than to submit to the dangers of vaccina-
tion, why should homoeopaths, who are aware of so harmless a
safeguard, resort to one of uncertain efficacy and which is posi-
tively dangerous to health ?
The writer has for years refused to vaccinate. The inocula-
tion with a potency of Variolinum has been sufficient to allow of
signing the School Board certificates, and as a preventive Ma-
landrinum internally has been relied upon. During an attendance
upon the only case in this part of the city within the past dozen
years that remed}- was used solely as a prophylactic, and without
failure.
In view of the actual dangers of vaccination; of its possible in-
efficiency; considering the probable power of Malandrinum, and
bearing in mind the wrong which is done to the people we are
bound to protect (vaccination being practically compulsory), it is
high time to give this desirable substitute a hearing.
There are those who argue in favor of vaccination because it is
approved by many leading men in the profession, and to these the
266 Data Wanted.
axiom given at the beginning of this paper is recalled and may
be supplemented by another. At a public meeting in Philadelphia
during the discussion of a different subject an address was made
by Dr. Albert Leffmgwell, of Boston, in which he referred to the
many adherents to evil customs in times past by worthy men;
notably, the reform in the child-labor in the coal mines of Great
Britain, during the agitation of which Humane movement such
otherwise good men as Richard Cobden and John Bright could
not be made to see that there was anything demanding parliament-
ary interference. Gladstone had opposed the ten hour bill for
women; many intelligent and pions Americans had defended
slavery, etc.
Variola is not the only dread disease, it is not even the worst,
not the most fatal. If it can be prevented by an inoculation
with its own virus, so can others, so may all. Why then select
this when it is not even prevalent ? It is apparent that inocula-
tion against all ailments cannot be wise. It is a violation of the
Constitution of the United States (which protects bodily muti-
lation) to require this.
There may be some who are unfamiliar with the nature of
Malandrinum, and to these the following information is offered:
In the disease of horses, known among veterinarians as Grease,
there appears a discharge which when conveyed to the udder of
cows by careless milkers produces an eruption almost identical
with the pustules of variola. This was erroneously called
Malanders (from a closely related dry disease), and from it has
come to us the name given to the morbific product under con-
sideration which when potentized becomes, homceopathically ,
a preventive of the similar disease. Not, like vaccination, an
isopathic preventive of the same malady. This remedy should
be given internally, probably once a day for a week. It may
be procured from any of Boericke & Tafel's pharmacies.
A copy of this article will be sent to the leading homoeopathic
journals, and the reader is requested to return an answer to the
following questions at the earliest convenient moment, so that a
compilation may be made of the honest opinion of all who are
sufficiently interested in the welfare of humanity to care to bother
this little about it. Do not repeat the questions, but give the
number with the answer. Full credit will be given to all thus
communicating and the result will not be published unless a desir-
able number of responses are received. If you can reply to these
American Inst Hide oj HomceopatJiy. 267
questions, please do so at once, giving name and address plainly, if
not cut this out, procure the preparation and report as soon as
convinced:
1. Waiving the question of its efficacy, do you believe vaccina-
tion to be unsanitary ?
2. Have you ever prescribed Malandrinum as a preventive?
3. Have those to whom you have given it been subjected to a
possible contagion with variola ?
4. Have you met with any failures?
5. Have you used it for the ill effects of vaccination?
6. With what result ?
Wm. Jefferson Guernsey.
4340 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia.
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF HOMCEOPATHY.
To the Editor of the Homceopathic Recorder.
The Executive Committee desire to state as a final announce-
ment, that the programme submitted by the chairman of the various
committees indicates an exceptionally valuable series of papers and
discussions for the forthcoming meeting.
The citizens of Richfield Springs have subscribed $2,000 to
entertain the Institute. The social features of this year's session
w7ill in consequence be of unusal attractiveness.
The entertainments, which have all been arranged so as not to
conflict with the work of the Institute, will make the week a
particularly pleasant one, especially for the ladies.
There will not be a dull moment for any one at Richfield
Springs, for between riding, driving, wheeling, boating, fishing
and golfing every one may find recreation in the intervals of w7ork.
We are also assured that at all the hotels ever}7 effort is to be
made to make each member of the Institute a friend of Richfield.
They look upon a convention of physicians as an opportunity to
advertise the merits of their health resort rather than as we are
usually looked upon, the legitimate prey of the landlord.
The railroads have made the customary fare and one-third rate
for the round trip, and in addition have made special arrange-
ments so that every one desiring to attend the Pan-American Ex-
position at Buffalo may do so without forfeiting the special
reduced rate. Through cars to Richfield will be put on and
268 Hydrastis and Ceanothus.
special connections made, so that Richfield will prove easy to
reach from all points.
In all parts of the country unusual efforts are being made to
secure along list of new members for this session, and from reports
already received there should be a greater accession to our
membership than ever before. As the cause of homoeopathy de-
pends upon the strength of our national organization, we appeal
to every member of the Institute to make this most important
work for the welfare of the school a personal obligation. Let
every loyal homoeopath secure one new member of the Institute
this year.
Lastly, we call upon every homoeopathic physician, be he a
member of the Institute or not, to be present at this meeting; our
visitors will be warmly welcomed as our members and we promise
to one and all a most profitable and enjoyable meeting.
A. B. Norton, M. D.,
President.
E. H. Porter, M. A., M. D.,
Secretary.
HYDRASTIS AND CEANOTHUS.
By Dr. A. W. K. Choudhury.
Hydrastis Ca?iadensis is a very good remedy in constipation.
Dr. Richard Hughes, in his Pharmacodynamics , recommends a
drop of the mother tincture in water before breakfast for consti-
pation. A globule of the ix, once or twice daily, has been given
to patients suffering from constipation on many occasions and I
remember no failure.
For illustration I give here cases as follows:
(i) A Mahommedan lady, aged about 40 years, mother of
four children, came under treatment for intermittent fever July
29, 1900; she got Sulph. 1000 and got rid of the fever; but on its
subsidence headache began; this, again, was treated with Bell. ,
Platina, Merc. sol. Constipation remained unaltered, she being
habitually constipated since the nth of August, 1900, till the
18th inst. She got no medicine, yet was improving save constipa-
tion and want of appetite, for which she was given Hydras. Can.
ix, one globule per dose, two doses daily, the 19th inst. Re-
Hydrastis and Ceanothus. 269
ported oue good stool, the next day. Under this medicine she
was getting her bowels open daily once or twice.
Climacteric symptoms, which were not well developed in the
commencement of he.' treatment, appeared and caused me to
change Hydras. Can. for Lack., under which she improved satis-
factorily.
(2) This case is taken down from my Case Book, No. II. The
patient, named Saher Gazi, a low class Mahommendan of about
30 years, came to my dispensary the 9th of November, 1894, f°r
treatment. His illness was constipation, from which he had been
suffering since about a week back.
History and symptoms of the case: One hard formed stool after
two or three days; anasarca of abdomen; swelling of eyelids, that
of the lower ones more marked and about an inch from the edge
of the lids downwards; tongue slightly yellowish; urine little
colored; taste in mouth sometimes sour; partial deafness of left
ear as before, but somewhat less and disappearing at noon; felt
pain in ear last night; pulse slow and weak; first sound at the
base of heart rather indistinct,* not good sleep last night; cough
occasionally, with thick and white sputa; loss of appetite ; palpita-
tion after slight exertion; frequent and passing calls to urinate,
so much so that if for any reason some delay happens to attend
the call there is probability of involuntary urination.
Treatment. — Hydras. Can. ix, four globules per dose, one dose
given. No change in diet.
4:55 p. m. — One easy, but formed, stool at about 11 A. m. to-
day; cedematous swelling on lower lids somewhat reduced; pain
above navel not felt after medicine; coughs; ear in the same state.
No more medicine given, diet as usual.
10-1 1-1894. 7:55 A- M- — £ar in tne same state; occasional
cough with no sputa; cedematous state of lower lids as mentioned
above. Pain in abdomen, above navel slight and for once only
last night about 7 p. m. No more stool.
Repeated one dose to-day.
5 p. m. — One formed, but easy and free stool, at about 2 p. M.
to-day; cedematous swelling of lower eyelids less; felt pain in
abdomen above navel just before defecation, cedematous state of
skin of abdomen less; ear in the same state.
Given no medicine, only placebo.
11-11-1894. 4:40 p. M. — One stool formed and easy; no pain
in abdomen; cedematous swelling of lower eyelids still less, deaf-
270 Hydrastis and Ceanothus.
ness continuing of the left ear; cedematous state of the skin of
abdomen diminishing; cough less.
Repeated one dose for 24 hours.
12-11-1894. 9 a. m. — No more stool; cedematous swelling of
skin of abdomen and that of lower eyelids much diminished;
urine not colored; cough much less; ear slightly improved; sleep
good; appetite improved; palpebral vessels injected; pupils
dilated; no tympanitis.
Repeated one dose.
13-11-1894. 9 a. m. — One easy formed stool afternoon yester-
day at about 2 p. m. ; no more pain in abdomen; cedematous state
of the skin of abdomen and of the lower eyelids almost gone; ear
better; tongue slightly yellowish posteriori}-; palpebral injection;
pupils dilated; appetite much improved; sleep good; feels better
than before.
Repeated one dose. Diet usual.
16-11-1894. 8:30 a. M. — One easy formed stool once daily, in
the morning, since yesterday; sleep good; appetite good; cedema
of skin of abdomen and of lower eyelids very slight; pissing
water much, increase in times of micturition, especially yester-
day, so that since evening till 10 p. m. last night he passed water
five times; palpebral injection and pupils dilated; no pain in
abdomen above navel; slight deafness, no deafness since about 10
A. m. till 2 or 3 p. m.; not weary or tired after slight exertion;
first sound at the base indistinct, but little better; pulse at the
wrist weak, slow and soft.
Repeated one dose. Diet as above.
17-11-1894. 9:25 a. m. — Micturition less; one soft, free stool
this morning; eyes with pupils dilated and palpebral congestion;
no burning sensation of eyes; cedema of skin of abdomen and
lower lids much less; spleen reduced; deafness as above. Increase
of urine since about a year.
Repeated one dose. Diet as above.
24-11-1894. 9:10 A. M. — Daily, two formed stools; no increase
of times of micturition; urine not colored; very slight cedema of
skin of abdomen and lower eyelids; slight deafness of the ear re-
maining.
Repeated one dose.
25-11-1894. 9:10 a. m. — Coryza, cough and sneezing since
yesterday; slight deafness; bowels open.
Placebo. Diet as above. To discontinue bathing.
Hydrastis and Ceanothns. 271
29-11-1894. 9:15 a. m. — Daily, two formed stools; gets up
only once to pass water per night; eyelid-oedema gradually dis-
appearing; no palpitation; slight palpebral conjunctivitis; no
sensation of sand and dust in the eyes; no burning sensation in
eyes; no lachrymation; no photophobia; pupils slightly dilated;
slight deafness.
Sidph 12, four globules per dose; one dose only was given.
Bathing allowed.
6- 1 2-1 894. 9 a. M. — Daily, two normal stools; appetite good;
gets up only once to pass water per night after going to bed; no
cedematous state of skin of abdomen or of the lower eyelids; ear
improving.
No more medicine.
11-12-1894. 8:25 A. m. — Daily, two stools; an attack of
coryza and cough; gets up only once per night to pass water.
He discontinued attendance and recovered. In those early
days of my homoeopathic life I could not dare to come down to
one globule, but I was reducing the number from six lower down
as I have mentioned above.
The cure, as it appears from the report of the case above, was
completed by a dose of Sidph. Why that dose of Sulph. was
given when the patient was gradually gaining health under
Hydras. Can.? The patient, being a life-long neighbor of mine,
was known to me. He had syphilis before and was salivated for
the same.
In this case the efficaciousness of Hydras, can. ix in so minute
doses, each dose containing four globules, is very apparent. If
we study thoroughly and properly the case there remains no doubt
about the effectiveness of the medicine in so minute doses. He
was under treatment about a month, since the 9th of Nov. to the
nth of Dec, 1894, and during that long period he got only eight
doses of the medicine, gradually putting him in the way of correc-
tion.
Before I leave this case for another I must note here one thing
very remarkable, as I have already elsewhere noticed in any med-
ical journal: disappearance of oedema with diminution of urina-
tion. We generally see oedema to disappear when increase of
urination is induced by medication, but in this case oedema disap-
peared along with diminution of increase of urination.
(3) Accidentally and fortunately the same man again, whom
we have traced bit bv bit in the above case. This time he was ill
272 . Hydrastis and Ceanothus.
with intermittent fever and came to dispensary the 14th of Dec.,
1894. His case is as follows:
Type. — Quotidian.
Time. — 4 or 5 p. M. , yesterday. 2 p. M., day before yesterday.
1 p. M., day before that day (above).
Prodromata. — Nothing mentioned.
Chill. — Not much, no thirst; lasting about some six hours; no
aching of limbs or head, but tightness of head; nausea; spitting of
saliva.
Heat. — Shorter; no thirst; occasional aching of knees; no
nausea; spitting of saliva; tightness of head, with chill not allow-
ing to uncover.
Sweat. — Slight, just after chill.
Apyrexia. — Incomplete; tightness of head; no nausea, but spit-
ting of saliva.
No stool to-day; tongue moist, but posterior part yellowish and
furred, with cracks; taste in mouth insipid; pupils dilated; coryza,
with thick yellowish or whitish discharge from the nose; cough
occasionally ;% no pain anywhere; urine reddish and passed with
burning sensation. Aphthous condition of the mouth with smart-
ing sensation when taking rice with vegetable curries prepared
with condiments and chillies, etc.; feels pain in one spot on the
tongue; papillae raised on the tongue; obstruction of the nasal
passages with coryzal thick discharge. No increase of times of
micturition. Nothing bad with the ears. Bad smell of mouth.
Treatment. — Hydras, can. ix.
15-12-1894. 9:15 A. m. — Fever yesterday at about 1 p. M.,
with chill less than that of other days, with no thirst; chill last-
ing till about 2 p. M., then heat with slight chill, with heat and
burning sensation of soles of feet and palms of hands, and of eyes,
with shedding of tears. No sweat. No good remission. Frontal
headache increased. Heaviness of head. One stool this morn-
ing, first hard then latter portion soft. Taste insipid in mouth;
tongue moist, clean anterior part, with two or three longitudinal
cracks, rather effaced to-day than that of yesterday; posterior part
yellowish; papillae raised; pupils dilated; increase of times of
micturition last night (passed water three times); urine less red-
dish and passes with less burning sensation than that of yesterday.
Hungry. Dry cough since 8 P. M. till 11 p. m., last night.
Was given placebo.
1 6-1 2-1 894. 9:15 A. M. — Feverishness last night, evening till
Hydrastis and Ceaiwthus. 273
morning, but less severe; nose not so much stopped up; no stool
after that of yesterday morning; frontal headache less; dry cough
last night from 9 to 10 p. m.; thick, yellowish, mucous discharge
from nose; much hungry; tongue cracked anteriorly, but poste-
riorly yellowish; aphthae continuing; fever-blisters on left labial
commissure encroaching about half an inch inward on upper and
lower lips, blisters more marked on upper lip. Feels better to-
day than yesterday. Passed water twice last night. Urine color-
less to-day — morning.
Placebo. Diet as usual to-day.
1 7-1 2- 1 894. 8:10 a. M. — Xo feverishness yesterday; no dry
cough last night; one normal and free stool at about n a. m.,
yesterday; coryza less than yesterday; aphthous condition contin-
uing, the cracks diminishing in depth; fever-blisters of the color
of the mouth not increased; no stool this morning; good sleep
last night; passed water last night, once. Took rice once yester-
day, and feels hungry now. Better than yesterday. Xo com-
plaints of ear. Worked in the field yesterday.
Placebo. Two usual meals.
1 8-1 2-1894. 9 A. M. — Xo more fever; no dry cough last night;
one normal, free and formed stool at about 2 p. M. yesterday; ap-
petite good; sleep good; passed water last night only once; no com-
plaints of ear; coryza less; tongue, cracks disappearing; aphthous
condition lessening; fever-blisters healing up. Yesterday worked
in the field. One formed and free stool to-day — morning.
He recovered. He received no more medicine, got only one
dose of two globules. Xow see the effect of the medicine with
still minute a dose.
Xote here, my readers of the Homceopathic Recorder, a case
of intermittent fever recovered with a single dose of a homoeo-
pathic remedy, and especially wTith Hydras, can., a rare medicine
for the treatment of fevers.
Further illustrations of Hydras, can. would be needless, so I
wish to take any other medicine.
Ceanothus Americana.
Ceanothus Americanus. Xo need of mentioning that it is a good
splenic remedy. I see Dr. Burnett, of England, uses the ix or ic
dilutions in 4 or 5 drop doses twice or thrice daily to produce any
good effect on the enlarged gland in a month or two or so. I ad-
minister the mother tincture in one globule dose, a dose daily.
274 Hydrastis and Ceanothus.
Bengal is a fertile field of hypertrophy and induration of the
spleen; we can see here cases of acute splenitis and enlarged
spleen with dull aching and tenderness under pressure. In our
hands Ceanothus has wrought marvellously rapid and beneficial
action in acute splenitis. In enlarged spleen with dull aching
and tenderness under pressure its good action is also remarkable.
Chronically hypertrophied and indurated spleen is the least
affected by the remedy. I am sorry to note that very few cases
with indurated and hypertrophied spleen I have found to continue
under the remedy for a longer period to examine its result. The
result it has produced in these is good. In most of our spleen
cases we see constipation and irregularity in opening of the
bowels. Ceanothus brings regularity in the action of the bowels,
and patients get always daily one or two normal stools. In one
lady — patient of hay asthma — Cea?iothus has produced on two dif-
ferent occasions coryza with constant sneezing, gradually develop-
ing an asthmatic fit when taking a globule of the mother tincture
twice daily. She could not continue under the dose twice daily.
Two such doses daily I have seen in some to produce a fever. This
I write here, as Dr. Burnett "could not find it affected any other
organ — liver, kidney, bowel — save and except the spleen in his
tenth case of his Diseases of the Spleen." I don't agree with him
in this point. Ceanothus has produced in my hands with that
very minute dose of the mother tincture symptoms mentioned
above.
I dare say from my experience that this one globule dose, either
of the mother tincture or of the higher dilutions, is always power-
ful and capable of producing medicinal effects better than those
that are obtained in one or more drop doses. I have seen here
practitioners use homoeopathic medicines, giving one, two, three
or four times daily without any medicinal aggravation, if repeated
even twice daily. So I am sure that this one-globule dose is more
effective than one or more drop doses. This effectiveness of the
medicine is only found when it is the right remedy for the disease.
Homoeopathy claims economy as one of her undisputed prop-
erty, and in adopting my way of prescribing one may well
observe it. One drop will cure a hundred or more patients, while
the other party will require many drachms of the same medicine
to do the same work, if treated with one or more drop doses.
Just below the above quotation Dr. Burnett has, " As far as I
could ascertain, the secretions and excretions were not affected
Hydrastis and Ceanothus. 275
in the least degree; the remedial action must, therefore, be con-
sidered specific;" but I can not safely endorse to the above
opinion, as I have often witnessed in my practice patients who
get the minute dose of the mother tincture of Ceanothus get their
constipation removed, and daily one or two normal stools.
Ceanothus removes constipation in spleen-patients and gets
regularity in the action of their bowels with the minute dose of
the mother tincture should not be taken to an infallible practical
truth until confirmed by further experience.
The following are two cases of Ceanothus used in the minute
dose of the mother tincture:
Case No. 1. — Patient, a female adult, a relation of mine, a
patient of hay asthma, was under treatment for some disease;
when cured she placed herself under my medical treatment for
enlarged and tender spleen the 15th of August, 1900. Her
medicine had been stopped six days before she came under treat-
ment for the enlarged spleen. This is case No. 168 of my Case
Book XII.
She was given Ceanothus 8, one globule per dose, one dose
daily. She was habitually constipated. Continued medicine
regularly by taking daily one dose till the 21st inst. and stopped
till the 4th of September next, when she complained of aching in
spleen since one day back; there was no chill, heat latter part of
the previous night, no sweat, getting daily one scanty stool. She
got one dose (as above) of Ceanothus 6 for the day. Next day
she reported aching in spleen, flatulent distension of the descend-
ing colon, and of one stool. Was given two such doses per diem.
6-9-1900. — Aching in spleen less. Flatulent distension only
in the lower part of the descending colon. Pain under percussion
on right hypochondrium and epigastrium (she having had slight
painful enlargement of the liver since before). Repeated two
doses.
7-9-1900. — One better stool yesterday; aching of spleen last
night only.
Two doses repeated.
9-9-1900. — Coryza with sneezing since daylight before yester-
day. No medicine yesterday.
" This patient is hay asthma patient. Once on a previous oc-
casion I gave Ceanothus 6>, a globule a dose. This produced in
her coryza, sneezing and cough. She has got cough to-day."
(Just what is in my Case Book. ) There was no aching in spleen.
276 Obituary.
Thus I have to differ from Dr. Burnett even with so very
minute a dose. It produced in her, on two very different occas-
sions, symptoms indicating irritation of the respiratory tract pro-
ducing sneezing, coryza and cough.
Thus she continued under Ceanothas 9 for some days, sneezing,
coryza and cough disappearing on discontinuing or lessening the
dose, and keeping her bowels open once or twice as the repetition
of the dose if not producing coryza and cough. The aching of
the spleen and its painfulness under pressure and reduction in
its size followed the treatment, but here the remedy could not
beget thorough cure.
The above case shows, as in many other cases in my practice,
that Cea7iothus has a good efficacious effect on spleen, though it
failed to cure in this case. This is the "inherent defect of
organopathy," so honestly remarked by Dr. Burnett. Readers
should remember that in this Ceayiothus produced action on the
intestines and respiratory tract as well as on the spleen.
Time puts me back to collect another suitable case of
Ceanothus, as I am in a great hurry to close the paper for the
journal.
Satkhira P. O., Calcutta, India.
OBITUARY.
Dr. George Christie McDermott, who for more than twenty
years has been a prominent physician in Cincinnati, died on May
8th. It was only after a long struggle that he succumbed to that
dread malady, Bright's disease. On May 21st, two years ago, his
first attack came, followed by a paralytic stroke. This so weak-
ened him that the collapse came last October. Since then he was
unable to leave his home, during which time his wonderful vital-
ity and the results of an active life sustained him.
Dr. McDermott was a Canadian by birth, having been born
near London, Ont., on July 29, 1848. He came to Ohio early in
life and studied at the Cleveland Homoeopathic College, graduat-
ing in 1868. He began the practice of medicine, making a spe-
cialty of the eye and ear, in Warren, Pa., where he married Miss
Clara Waters on August 14, 1872. Later he took a course in the
Ophthalmic College, New York. Graduating, he began a prac-
tice in Milwaukee.
Obituary. 277
In 1880 he moved to Cincinnati. For fifteen years he filled the
chair of ophthalmology in Pulte College. He had an enviable rec-
ord in the fact that nine pupils received a thorough preparation under
his guidance, have been awarded gold medals for their proficiency
at the Ophthalmic Institute, New York.
OBITUARY.
James Compton Burnett belonged to an old Scotch family, the
younger branch of which came south, notably Gilbert Burnett,
afterwards created Bishop of Salisbury, from whom James Comp-
ton is directly descended. The name Compton was taken about
the year 1770, on the marriage of his grandfather with a Miss
Compton, of Hampshire, a lady of large fortune, at whose desire
the addition was made. There were several sons of this marriage,
one of whom, Charles by name, married a Miss Sarah Wilson, and
James Compton Burnett was their son. He was born at Redlinch,
in Wiltshire, July 21, 1840, his father being a considerable land-
owner in that neighborhood.
He had an ordinary English education until he reached the age
of sixteen, when he went to school in France for a term of about
three years. After this he travelled for several years, principally
on the Continent, studying philology, the love of which in him
amounted almost to a passion, and he had serious thoughts of de-
voting his life to that object.
Deciding later on to study medicine, he became a student at
Vienna, and was so absorbed in the study of anatomy that he de-
voted two years more of his time than the ordinary curriculum
demanded to that branch of science. He prepared many valuable
specimens for his professors during that term, most of which are
now preserved in the Pathological Museum, of Vienna. It was
doubtless this long course of study, with his own great gift of per
cption, which enabled him in after life to diagnose complicated
disease with almost absolute certainty. Having taken the Vienna
M. B., 1869, he entered Glasgow University and studied there
until in 1872 he took the M. B. of that University, taking the M.
D. in 1876. Passing through a brilliant examination in anatomy,
lasting one hour and a half, the professor shook hands with him,
saying that he had never examined a student with so brilliant and
thorough a knowledge of anatomy. The same professor, on hear-
ing later that he had decided to become a homoeopath, entreated
278 Obituary.
him to alter his mind, saying he was convinced that he would
reap all honors in the medical world, and that he was throwing
his life away. His reply was, "that he could not buy worldly
honors at the cost of his conscience," and he continued to fight
the good fight of Homoeopathy to the last day of his life. The
reason why he did not take his M. D. degree till four years after
graduating M. B. was that he wrote his first thesis on " Specific
Therapeutics," and the homoeopathic flavor was too strong for
the examiners, who rejected it in spite of its merits. His next
essay evaded such dangerous ground and was duly accepted.
The cause of Burnett's dissatisfaction with allopathy and his
conversion to Homoeopathy are related in ' ' Reason Number 1 ' '
in his Fifty Reasons for Being a Homoeopath.
He began practice in Chester, and afterwards practiced for a
short time in Birkenhead, from whence he came in 1877 to Lon-
don, where he has carried on a large consulting practice for
twenty-three years.
Beloved by all his friends, in his home he was idolised. The
helpful sympathy and kindly interest always shown to his patients
makes realistic in a high degree how vast would be the love and
tenderness lavished on those who were dearest to him; the loss to
all who were brought in contact with him is truly great, to them
rreparable. He leaves a widow and family, for whom the deep-
est sympathy must be felt.
Such was Burnett the student and the man. The history of
Burnett the physician is writ large in the lives of thousands who
owe health restored or health improved to his genius; and in the
precious clinical record of his published works. — Homoeopathic
World,
IN MEMORY OF THE LATE WILLIAM NOAH
GUERNSEY, M. D.
The Homoeopathic Medical Society of the County of New
York, at its May meeting, adopted the following resolution:
Whereas, The sudden death of our friend and colleague,
Doctor William Noah Guernsey, produced a profound impression
upon all to whom he was known; but by none was the melancholy
announcement received with more sorrow than by his immediate
professional associates, and
Book Notices, 279
Whereas, It has pleased the iVllwise Ruler to take from our
number our highly esteemed friend and co -laborer, and
Whereas, In consequence of this dispensation, we are this
evening assembled to contemplate our sad bereavement and give
expression to our attachment and respect for the deceased; there-
fore,
Resolved, That in the demise of Dr. Guernsey the medical pro-
fession has lost one of its most brilliant representatives, and this
Society an honorable and faithful member.
Resolved, That we will ever cherish the memory of our late
associate, whose example of fidelity to the science of medicine
and uprightness of character should stimulate us to more thorough
discharge of our professional obligations.
Resolved, That we tender the surviving members of the family
of Dr. Guernsey an expression of our warmest sympathy in their
deep affliction.
Resolved, That the secretary spread these resolutions upon the
minutes of this Society, and forward a copy of the same to the
family of thev deceased and to various homoeopathic medical
journals.
F. E. Doughty, M. D.,
J. H. Demarest, M. D.,
S. F. Wiecox, M. D.,
Committee.
BOOK NOTICES.
Atlas and Epitome of Obstetric Diagnosis and Treatment.
By Dr. O. Shaeffer, of Heidelberg. From the Second Revised
German Edition. Edited by J. Clifton Edgar, M. D., Professor
of Obstetrics and Clinical Midwifery, Cornell University Medi-
cal vSchool. With 122 colored figures on 56 plates, 38 other
illustrations, and 317 pages of text. Philadelphia and London:
W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901. Cloth, $3.00 net.
This book treats particularly of obstetric operations, and, besides
the wealth of beautiful lithographic illustrations, contains an ex-
tensive text of great value. The symptomatology and diagnosis
are discussed with all necessary fullness, and the indications for
treatment are definite and complete. In this new edition both
280 Book Notices.
text and illustrations have been subjected to a thorough revision.
Most of the colored plates are new, and illustrate the modern im-
provements in technique as well as a vast amount of new clinical
material.
Atlas and Epitome of the Nervous System and Its Dis-
eases. By Professor Dr. Chr. Jakob, of Erlangen. From the
Second Revised Gei'man Edition. Edited by Edward D. Fisher,
M. D., Professor of Diseases of the Nervous System, University
and Bellevue Medical College, New York. With 83 plates and
copious text. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders &
Co., 1 901. Cloth, $3.50 net.
In this Atlas the author has portrayed an instructive section of
medicine which is usually extremely difficult of mastery by stu-
dents and practitioners. This work will be of great value to the
physician. The matter is divided into Anatomy, Pathology, and
Description of Diseases of the Nervous System. The plates illus-
trate these divisions most completely. There is probably no work
in existence in which so much is compressed within so small a
space. The book is comprehensive and practical.
Vaccination a Curse and a Menace to Personal Liberty,
■with Statistics Showing Its Dangers and Criminality.
By J. M. Peebles, M. D. 326papes. 8vo. Cloth, $1.25. Battle
Creek, Mich.: Temple of Health Publishing Co. 1900.
This is about as strong a book against the practice that is every-
day becoming a more burning question among the people as was
ever published, and anyone wanting facts for fighting purposes
cannot find them in greater numbers in any other book.
Atlas and Epitome of Ophthalmoscopy and Ophthalm-
scopic Diagnosis. By Prof. Dr. O. Haab, Director of the
Eye Clinic in Zurich. From the Third Revised and Enlarged
German Editioii. Edited by Geo. E. de Schweinitz, Professor
of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
With 152 colored lithographic illustrations and 85 pages of
text. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Co., 1901.
Price, $^.00 net.
Book Notices. 281
The great value of Prof. Haab's Atlas of Ophthalmoscopy and
Ophthalmoscopic Diagnosis has been fully established and entirely
justifies an English translation of his latest edition. Xot only is
the student made acquainted with carefully prepared ophthalmo-
scopic drawings done into well-executed lithographs of the most
important founders' changes, but in man}7 instances plates of the
microscopic lesions are added; the whole furnishes a manual of
the greatest possible service, not only to the beginner in ophthal-
mic work, but to one who has already far advanced and desires to
compare the observations of his own service with those of the rich
clinic from which Prof. Haab has gathered his plates.
Essentials of the Diseases of Children. By Wm. M. Powell,
M. D. Third Edition. Thoroughly Revised by Alfred Hand,
Jr., M. D., Dispensary Physician and Pathologist to the
Children's Hospital, Philadelphia. i2tno. 159 pages. Phila-
delphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Company. Price,
$1.00, net.
In this revised edition numerous additions and changes have
been made in the book, so that it continues to represent the present
state of pediatrics. The book aims to furnish material with which
students may lay the foundation for the successful practice of
medicine among children. The section on Infectious Diseases
has been rewritten, as well as many of the paragraphs on
pathology. A number of new chapters have been added, among
others one on Infant Feeding.
Atlas and Epitome of Labor and Operative Obstetrics. By
Dr. O. Schaeffer, of Heidelberg. From the Fifth Revised Ger-
man Editio7i. Edited by J. Clifton Edgar, M D., Professor of
Obstetrics and Clinical Midwifery, Cornell University Medical
School. With 14 lithographic plates, in colors, and 139 other
illustrations. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders &
Co., 1 90 1. Cloth, $2.00 net.
There is no branch of medicine or surgery that is so difficult to
demonstrate as that of midwifery; hence, any positive aid, such as
this Atlas furnishes, is to be hailed with satisfaction. The author
has added to the multitude of obstetrics already shown by illustra-
tion many accurate representations of 'manipulations and condi-
282 Book Notices.
tions never before clearly shown. As a guide in the perusal of text-
books and as a volume of ready reference, this book will prove in-
valuable.
boericke & tafel,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Dear Sirs: Your Raue's "Diseases of Children" has been in
my hands now some two months, during which time I have care-
fully examined the work; and in thanking you for the favor of a
copy I desire to express my satisfactory opinion of the merits of
the book. What it lacks in verbosity it certainly makes up in
clearness. The classification of the various disease conditions are
ample and plain; the indications for the remedies are clear cut and
homceopathic. The chapter on feeding is an excellent essay on
that hard proposition. Altogether it is good, new, and worthy
of being recommended to my class, which I shall do.
Yours truly,
Ernest P. Mills.
Oleathe, Kan., May 22, igor.
" Electro-Therapeutics and X Rays is the title of a new
book by Charles Sinclair Elliott, and published by Boericke &
Tafel, Philadelphia. The price of the book is S2.50, and it is
well worth the price. Dr. Elliott has written much, and was
wrell prepared to write the volume before us. Electricity is a
valuable curative agent, but its use is greatly abused by the
ignorance of those who attempt to apply it. This work teaches
what current and how it should be administered in each disease
as well as the principles of electro-therapeutics." — Dr. L. D.
Rogers.
M. Verneuil recently read a paper before the French Academy
of Medicine in which our old homcepathic Calendula was strongly
commended. He uses it freely on all boils, carbuncles and sores
and finds it arrests the progress of the diseases, allays pain, re-
duces the fever, disinfects the purulent and gangrenous cirotics
and hastens healthy granulations. He prefers the non-alcoholic,
the Succus calcndular.
Homoeopattiic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications, books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
Dr. R. Rupp, Pediatrics, says that a few years ago enthusiasts
on antitoxin "gave only 1,000 or 1,500 units, and found that
quantity all sufficient for cases that are now given 3,000, 6,000,
and 60,000 units."
In same journal a Dr. Koester gave a rather interesting point
on the making of antitoxin, after stating that rashes are more
frequent now than formerly. " At one time the Board of Health
of New York City had had as horse, known as No. 7, who furnished
an antitoxin which never gave any rash no matter how large the
dose employed. The serum from certain other animals had been
known almost uniformly to cause rashes."
In a paper {Pediatrics, April) on the use of alcohol in acute in-
fectious diseases of children, Dr. Augustus E. Bieser lets fall the
following remark: " I think it a reasonable estimate to say that
95 per cent, of ordinary diphtherias get well on rational treat-
ment." This treatment is "mercury, iron, and whiskey, espe-
cially whiskey." In a series of 195 cases, including twenty-five
of the worst variety, he lost eleven cases. Antitoxin not used.
Where, then, does the startling reduction in mortality under
antitoxin come in that we hear of ever and anon ?"
Dr. E. D. Larkins, of East Downington. Pa., says there is a
good opening in that place for a young homoeopathic physician.
The practice is already established, having been built up by the
late Dr. Leach, of that place.
284 Editorial.
The following is from Merck' s Report for May:
Mullein Oil.
"M. G. S. — There are several preparations on the market known
by the name of " Mullein Oil," one, for instance, being a hydro-
alcoholic tincture of mullein flowers, another being an oleaginous
infusion of the flowers. The latter is used by homceopathists as
a remedy for earache, and is said to be prepared as follows:
Mullein Flowers, 4 oz.
Olive or Cottonseed Oil, 16 oz.
Digest the flowers in the oil for a week or two at a temperature of 750 to
8o° F., or, in summer time, expose to sunlight; then filter through paper.
Two or three drops of the oil are dropped into the affected ear,
or introduced on a cotton pledget."
There are pharmacists who prepare Mullein Oil that way, but
it is not true Mullein Oil. The genuine is prepared from the
bloom only and contains no olive or cottonseed oil. The prepara-
tion containing cottonseed, or olive oil, has but little, if any,
virtue.
Probably in no part of the world is Homoeopathy more
popular or better practiced than in India. The "homoeopathic
practitioners ' ' there believe in similia and practice it faithfully.
That this is so is due partly to the fact that Homoeopathy is
rational and appeals to the logical mind, and partly to the good
work done by the Homoeopathic Medical School of Calcutta,
under the able management of Dr. M. M. Bose, who for the past
twenty years has faithfully taught the principles laid down by
Hahnemann in that school. According to the last report quoted
in the Monthly Homoeopathic Review the past year has shown a
great extension of the work, pupils flocking in from the remoter
native states and provinces, like Kapurthella, Kumaon Hills, etc.
Dr. Bose and his school are doing good work.
The University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) is about to
erect, at a cost of more than $500,000, exclusive of grounds and
equipment, a medical laboratory building which will be unex-
celled in every respect. The trustees are also contemplating the
erection, in the future, of a new medical hall, anatomical building
Editorial. 285
and auxiliary buildings, which will adjoin the new laboratory
about to be erected, and which will form one of the most extensive
systems of buildings devoted exclusively to the teaching of medi-
cine in Europe or America.
The new medical laboratory building, which will be erected at
once, will be quadrangular in shape and will be located on the
south side of Hamilton Walk, between Thirty-sixth and Thirty-
seventh streets. The building will be two stories in height above
a high basement, and measures 340 feet front by nearly 200 feet
in depth.
The thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Homoeopathic Medi-
cal Society of Ohio was a very successful affair. One hundred
and nine members registered their attendance. The papers were
of an unusually high order, some in particular showing the result
of years of careful and discriminating study along special lines.
Dr. J. W. Means, of Troy, O., is to be again congratulated upon
the success attending his administration. The president-elect is
Dr. Thomas M. Stewart, of Cincinnati, O ; 1st vice-president,
Dr. G. D. Grant, Springfield, O.; 2d vice-president, Dr. J. P.
Hurshberger, Lancaster, O.; secretary, Dr. A. B. Nelles, Colum-
bus, O.; treasurer, Dr. T. T. Church, Salem, O.; necrologist, Dr.
D. H. Beckwith, Cleveland, O.
The next meeting of the homoeopathic physicians of Ohio will
occur in Columbus, May 13-14, 1902, and those most interested
will not be allowed to forget time, or place, or where, or when.
This is from a paper by Dr. Charles Ott, of Kansas City,
printed in the Medical Chancellor for Ma)7 under the heading
"The Treatment of Cancer:"
1 ' Surgery cannot boast of many cures. Said a very prominent
surgeon: ' I have operated 147 times for cancer of the breast and
all but two have returned, and I am not sure that these two were
cancer.' And he was not a medical pessimist, for medical text-
books claim only about 15 per cent, of cures."
Why not seriously try internal remedies? Drs. Allen and
Burnett have shown that, at least, cure is possible. Read Bur-
nett's book on Tumours, first freeing the mind from former teach-
ings— if necessary.
286 Editorial.
In the Transactions of the American Institute of Homceopatliy
for 1900, Dr. Bushrod W. James, of Philadelphia, is reported as
follows:
" I think it is much to the injury of Homoeopathy to use the
term ' physiological,' as it is ordinarily applied to the effects of
drugs. In one of our hospitals some time ago there came in an
order for Digitalis with the request that it be obtained at an allo-
pathic drug store. I condemned this request and inquired the
reason for an allopathic preparation being asked for by those in
an homoeopathic institution. The answer given in reply to the
query was that it was wanted for its physiological effects, to stim-
ulate a weak heart- There is no warrant that I know of in our
Materia Medica for the stimulation of a weak heart by the exhibi-
tion of Digitalis. It, like all other remedies, must be prescribed
upon the totality of symptoms, and not for the special purpose of
stimulating the heart. I think, as members of this Institute, that
it is wrong for us to prescribe drugs simply upon physiological in-
dications, either in our own practice or in hospital work. I, for
one, wish to record my hearty condemnation of any such method
of prescribing. ' '
" Thk manufacture of anti-toxin serum, closely examined, re-
veals some surprising things. In a man natural immunity is es-
tablished by a process in which the bacteria take some part, while
the so-called anti-toxin horse serum used for immunization of man
is elaborated in the animal by some phenomena in which the mi-
crobes take no part; for the toxin injected into horses is first freed
from bacteria. This, to my mind, is already a different thing.
When to this fact is added the likewise very important considera-
tion that the horses are tested with tuberculin, injected with
tetanus anti-toxin, and further inoculated with the mallein of
glanders the confusion becomes worse confounded, for surely these
substances must produce some constitutional changes in the ani-
mals which are transmitted to the serum. But this is not all! Xot
until to some preparations of anti -toxin an antiseptic has been
added is the serum considered finished and ready for use.
"When we know that many cases of diphtheria are complicated
with other throat affections against which the Klcebs-IvOefHer anti-
toxin serum has no effect, and the unestablished grounds on which
the whole theory rests, it should no longer seem strange that to-
day many men will not use anti-toxin, but rather surprise should
Editorial. 287
be evinced that there still remain some one who persist in using it
on the insufficient evidence brought forward in its favor." — Med-
ical Record, March nth, 1899.
1 1 Among the most potent of all the agencies that have assisted
in improving mortality ratio is the 'indicated remedy.' If our
experience in homoeopathic therapeutics was limited to post-oper-
ative treatment, the results are sufficiently striking to fully justify
all that is claimed for similia. The list of remedies is not a long
one: Arnica, in contused states; Calendula, as a vulnerary; Hy-
pericum, as an analgesic; Aconite, for acute stages of pyrexia;
Arsenic and Lachesis, for septic infection; Hepar and Merc, viv.,
suppuration; Rhus or Belladonna, in threatened erysipelas; Bis-
muth, Ipec, Tart, em., or Nux vom., for emesis; China, for
anaemia, and a few others complete the list.
Finally, if pressed for a classification of all the factors in order
of value, I think remedies, as indicated, would head the list, and
only second in importance would be rapidity in operating and the
minimum of handling. Another factor that plays a most import-
ant part, and one that can only come from extensive experience,
is selection of cases. Many cases are now refused that formerly
would have been operated. Perhaps it is not impossible that as
much as one-half the gain in respect to mortality could be credited
to this one element. There are minor considerations, that is,
minor when considered alone, largely matters of ' negation,' as
some one has said, such as no drainage, at least through the
wound, and avoidance of flushing the peritoneum with ' chemical '
solutions (bi-chlorides and the like), must be given a certain
value." — James G. Gilchrist, M. D., in Tra?is. A. I. H., 1900.
The vomiting of young infants is a small matter, and is usually
due to their having taken too much milk. Later on, in cases
where there is no fever, it is caused by a spoiled stomach; but
where there is heat, it points to a burning fever or an eruptive
fever. If the vomiting is repeated and attended with constipation,
there is danger of an inflammation of the meninges. If the vomit-
ing is attended with greenish-yellow watery diarrhoea, this is due
to inflammation of the bowels, or cholera infantum.
PERSONALS.
Meuelik is a reformer as is one; he prohibited the use of tobacco in his
country, Ethiopia, and what he says goes — or the head does.
The law of survival will soon be showing its hand among the medical
journals — though not always the fittest survive, it's generally the adver-
tisingist.
Dr. E. G. H. Meissler, of Curanter, Curenter fame, has removed to
Ontarioville, 111. Dr. Meissler is a retired physician.
Six days in jail on bread and water for " working in his garden on Sun-
day," is the sentence of a Pennsylvania man. Swift punishment for the
criminal ! !
" The beauty of, and glory and strength of serum-therapy has not, as yet,
been fully acknowledged." — Medical Visitor.
Dr. B. F. Lucas has removed from Grace to Altus, Ark.
Dr. Arthur S. Allard has removed from Hancock to Calumet, Mich.
Dr. Neal has found the " germ of cancer " in vegetation, trees, etc. Next !
With a million dollars capital "we firmly believe our sales will reach," in
time, a half a million a year.
"We turn out 3,000,000 tablets daily." These alone ought to nearly
*' reach" half a million a year, saying nothing of other goods.
Talk of Wall street !
Dr. James' history of A. I. H. in RECORDER opens up some exceedingly
interesting vistas of the past, and useful ones, too, to the broad minded man.
Papa called down at 11:30 p. M.: " Is that young man gone?" and Ethel
called up, "Yes, awfully."
Better a slip in diagnosis and a cure than the reverse.
" Take one after each meal," is good advice when tooth-picks are meant.
Governor Follette, of Wisconsin, has vetoed the Collins Compulsory Vac-
cination Bill.
Dr. Brunon says that beefsteak and onions, with lawn tennis, is more
efficacious in the treatmentof consumption than the sanatorium system of
Germany.
A scientist inquires "Why do we wink." Let him visit a prohibition
town.
The hod carrier is always on top.
Neiv York Lcuicet says not to be vaccinated is " a crime." Dear old
moss-back, so they once said about bleeding; only not to bleed a patient
was said to be "murder," but it wasn't you kuow.
THE
HOMCEOPATHIC RECORDER.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa., JULY, 1901. No. 7
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Fourteenth Annual Session.
The fourteenth annual session of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in Chicago, 111., the meeting being called
to order at ten o'clock a. m., on Wednesday, June 3, 1857, by F-
R. McManus, M. D.,of Baltimore, Md., the General Secretary.
After roll call, J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., was
elected Chairman; D. S. Smith, M. D., of Waukegan, 111., Gen-
eral Secretary, Geo. E. Shipman, M. D., of Chicago, Provisional
Secretary and S. S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, Treasurer for
the ensuing year.
The Board of Censors elected was J. S. Douglas, M. D., Mil-
waukee, Wis.; D. M. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; A. E. Small,
M. D., Chicago, 111.; G. W. Swazey, M. D., Springfield, Mass.,
and Lewis Dodge, M. D., Cleveland, O.
The Chairman appointed Walter Williamson, M. D., Phila-
delphia, Pa.; C. F. Manchester, M. D., Pawtucket, R. I.; N.
H. Warner, M. D., Buffalo, X. Y.; William Gallupe, M. D.,
Bangor, Me., and F. W. Skiles, M.D., Iowa City, Iowa, as a com-
mittee to audit the Treasurer's accounts.
The Chairman of the Board of Censors, J. S. Douglas, M. D.,
reported the following as qualified for membership and they were
therefore elected.
A. R. Bartlett, M. D., Aurora, 111.; Geo. E. Shipman, M. D.,
M. Slocum, M. D., J. L. Kellogg, M. D., D. A. Colton, M. D.|
G. D. Beebe, M. D., R. Ludlain, M. D. and Aaron Pitney, M. D.,
all of Chicago, 111.; E. A. Guilbert, M. D., Dubuque, Iowa; Philo
290 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
L. Hatch, M. D., Dubuque, Iowa; John Ellis, M. D., Detroit,
Mich.; Francis Woodruff, M. D., Ann Arbor, Mich.; Joseph
Sill, M. D., Kalamazoo, Mich.; L. E. Ober, M. D., La Crosse,
Wis.; G. W. Chittenden, M. D., Janesville, Wis.; W. M.
Williamson, M. D., Appleton, Wis.; John S. Pfouts, M. D., La
Crosse, Wis.; A. Giles, M.D., Racine, Wis.; W. S. Hedges, M.D.,
Jamestown, N. Y. ; Jared G. Baldwin, M. D., NewT York, N. Y.;
Joseph B. Ward, M. D., Saratoga Springs, N. Y.; Chas. T.
Harris, M. D., Balston Spa, N. Y.; F. B. Gardner, M. D., San
Francisco, Cal.; Seth R. Beckwith, M.D., Cleveland, O.; William
A. Reed, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa.; C. A. Jaeger, M.D., Elgin, 111. ;
and A. P. Holt, M. D., Lyndon, 111.
In the afternoon the Institute met at Metropolitan Hall. Dr.
Swazey offered a resolution that the next annual meeting should
be held in New York; Dr. Small amended to Brooklyn, which,
being accepted, it was resolved to meet in Brooklyn on the first
Wednesday in June, 1858.
Dr. C. M. Dake's report on "Anaesthetic Agents, Their Use
and Abuse," was called for, but the Doctor being temporarily
absent and still in communication with parties in Europe, he was
not quite prepared. Committee continued on motion of A. W.
Gray, M. D.
Dr. Gardiner, being absent, made no report. Dr. Williamson
read a letter from him asking a continuance or a discharge, and
on motion of Dr. McManus he was continued.
W. E. Payne, M. D., from Committee on "Repetitions and
Alternations," presented his report which was accepted.
The Committtee on "Water as a Therapeutic Agent" being
unprepared, was continued on motion of Dr. Small.
The Committee on " Attenuation of Remedies" was not pre-
pared, and was discharged at its own request.
Dr. Small, one of the Committee on "Ethics in Medicine,"
presented a report which was laid upon the table on motion of
Dr. Swazey.
Dr. D. M. Dake read a report, which, on motion of Dr.
^Williamson, was laid on the table for further consideration.
The Committee on " Intermittens " was not prepared, and
asked to be discharged.
J. P. Dake, M. D., presented a report of the Central Bureau of
Materia Medica which was interrupted by adjournment, but fin-
ished on the next morning. This report was given as only an in-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 291
complete work because of the necessity for collecting information
from numerous and widely diffused sources. The report was
divided into several heads consisting of " Provers," " Provings,"
"Compilations," and "Plans for the Improvement of the
Homoeopathic Materia Medica," by J. P. Dake, M. D., and
"Secondary Materia Medica," by B. F. Joslin, M. D.
In the evening the annual address was delivered by J. S.
Douglas, M. D., and covered a wide field, being replete with in-
terest and enthusiasm for the cause of Homoeopathy.
After welcoming the Institute on behalf of the Western homoe-
opathic brethren, Dr. Douglas congratulated each member upon
the rapid growth of the doctrines and practice of the New School,
and especially for the rapid dissemination throughout the West.
He referred to the magical change that had occurred during the
few year's spread of Homoeopathy, west of the Lakes, and
claimed that there was scarcely a town of any importance in the
whole West in which the system did not have a creditable show-
ing, even the young prairie town of Chicago boasting of twenty
Homoeopathic practitioners wThose skill was equal to that of any
other city in the Union, while from all parts of the West came
the cry "Send us a Homoeopathic physician !" and he stated
that the laity always took the lead of the profession in reforms.
Dr. Douglas referred to the fact of their constantly receiving
valuable supplies from the Eastern homoeopathic physicians. He
said there was less conservatism and more progressiveness in the
West and this favored practical medical reform.
The subject on which he based his address was " What are the
causes which prevent the more rapid progress of our glorious art
and science of healing. ' '
These he divided into two classes, those that belong outside of
our school and those within.
The eternal cause is the spirit of conservatism, as he termed it,
which abounds in the profession, a disinclination to receive new
ideas or doctrines which do not correspond with the doctrines of
the day. He claimed that history explained the present and
offered a prophesy for the future, and then inquired what was
history giving to the question under consideration, replying that
it told us how every advancement, every great truth in science,
had met with continued conflict and opposition, and he mentioned
Copernicus, Kepler, Galilleo, Des Cartes, Hooker, Faust,
Leibnitz, Newton, Harvey and Jenner and a host of others as
historical examples.
292 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Every reform had fought a tedious and protracted battle before
it was successful, but had progressed against the opposition and
was finally triumphant. These inquirers asked not why Harvey
had been opposed, slandered, persecuted and deprived of his name
and place, to the day of his death, for maintaining the fact of the
circulation of the blood, nor had they questioned the discoveries
of other eminent men, among whom was Xewton who lived over
forty years after his discovery and had not twenty followers in all
Europe at the time of his death, while the old philosophies were
taught in every university of Europe, to the exclusion of New-
ton's Principia; for more than thirty years after its publication.
When these strange facts have been answered then probably
the querist can answer why the glorious truths of Hahne-
mann had not been universally adopted after fifty years of ex-
perience.
He referred to the assertion that new doctrines in every branch
are, as a rule, all condemmed even before their merits or demerits
are proven, and said that the whole truth might be summed up as
follows : " There ever has been, and is, a large class occupying
high stations, held in estimation by the world, and in many re-
spects learned and intelligent, who, having completed their
education according to ancient formula, straightway stereotype
themselves and make strenuous efforts, during the remainder of life
to stereotype the profession to which they belong. Standing upon
the circumference of their mighty and finished acquisitions, they
frown upon every living, moving man, who, in his onward prog-
ress, advances a step over the line they have drawn. This is
precisely the position of a majority of the magnates of the old
dispensation of medicine at the present moment." Some phy-
sicians, Dr. Douglas claimed, give up study after they have been
in practice a little while, and when they have their minds drawn
to the new doctrines and realize the amount of study our Materia
Medica requires they prefer to remain in the old school rather
than undergo the arduous task of studying our methods. In
reference to the inward causes, we first have the imperfections of
our Materia Medica, one being an error, the other a deficiency,
consisting in the arrangement of the symptoms and the want of
chronology in the pathogenetic records. It being necessary to
have the chronological history of both the natural disease and the
drug disease, as to their invasion, progress, acme and decline, we
must have the drug image in order to apply the drug in accord-
ance with the principle of similia similibus.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 293
He said the drug to be homoeopathic, to a disease, must cor-
respond, not only symptomatically but chronologically.
In regard to the deficiency, he said it was due to the want of
provings of many of the indigenous remedies, especially in the
West. He thought we should have full provings of all our
remedies, and especially of the newer ones, rather than the partial
provings which we now have of many of them.
The last obstacle to homoeopathic progress, he stated, was the
identification of homoeopathy with Hahnemannism. As pathol-
ogy, physiology and diagnosis in the light of modern science
had become almost new sciences, he would not make any argu-
ment in reference to a difference between Hahnemann's pathology
and physiology and that of the present time. The practical
conclusion to be drawn is clearly that no one, or all of the
obstacles combined, are either disheartening or appalling, as
history shows us that learned societies frequently change their
opinion.
The establishment of the homoeopathic doctrine, he claimed, was
a sufficiently immortal crown for any man.
This mighty truth would erect a ( ' mental pyramid ' ' as his
monument far lifting beyond the world's empiricism, on whose
base would be inscribed similia similibus curentur, and the summit
would be adorned with the statue of Hahnemann, the monument
to stand as an object of ever increasing wonder, admiration and
reverence, while its immortal author would gaze complacently
down on a world's everlasting homage.
On Thursday morning the Institute was called to order at nine
o'clock, and after the minutes were read J. M. Ward, M. D., of
Newark, N. J., announced the death of William Peck, M. D., of
Cincinnati, O., who had been killed in a railroad accident while
on his way to the meeting. On motion of Dr. G. W. Swazey, it
was resolved that the American Institute of Homoeopathy bow
submissively to the afflictive dispensation of Divine Provi-
dence in the sudden death of Dr. William Peck, and that Drs. J.
M. Ward, A. E. Small and W. Williamson be appointed a com-
mittee to draft resolutions of condolence with the bereaved family,
and communicate the same to them, and that the same be pub-
lished in the proceedings of the Institute.
J. P. Dake, M. D., continued the reading of the report of the
Central Bureau before mentioned, and A. E. Small, M. D., read
Dr. Joslin's report in the absence of the writer.
294 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
W. E. Payne, M. D., presented a report also bearing on the
same subject, after the reading of which Dr. W. Williamson
moved that the reports be laid upon the table for future action.
N. H. Warner, M. D., one of the Committee on " Cholera,"
presented an extensive and interesting report which, on motion of
Dr. D. M. Dake, was also laid on the table for consideration.
The Committee on " Domestic Books and Cases " was not pre-
pared to report, and at its own request was discharged.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of the Committee on " Medical Educa-
tion Necessary in Homoeopathic Practice," presented an elaborate
report, and also gave a report from J. H. Pulte, M. D., on
" Water as a Therapeutic Agent," both of which were laid on the
table for future action.
D. S. Smith, M. D., Secretary, presented the proceedings of
the Illinois State Homoeopathic Medical Association which was
received and filed.
W. Williamson, M. D., made a report respecting the Treas-
urer's account which was adopted by the Institute.
R. Ludlam, M. D., presented a report from the Northern
Illinois Medical Association, and read a report from the Chicago
Homoeopathic Medical Society, which were ordered to be printed.
A report was received from J. B. Wood, M. D., of West
Chester, Pa., upon the "Treatment of Inflamed and Indurated
Mammae," which, on motion of Dr. McManus, was ordered to be
printed.
William Gallupe, M. D., of Bangor, Me., read the history,
symptoms, treatment and cure of several important cases of Can-
cer of the Mammae treated by himself; which, on motion of Dr.
Williamson, was printed in the Transactions.
At the afternoon session Dr. Guy made a report of an interest-
ing case of exanthematous disease treated and cured by Dr. Z.
Clements, of Victoryville, N. Y., which was ordered to be
printed.
S. Z. Haven, M, D., of Buffalo, made a verbal report of a very
interesting case of abdominal disease; a similar case was also re-
ported by Dr. Swazey, together with some statements regarding
tapeworm.
Dr. Williamson verbally reported several remarkable cases of
tapeworm, which he considered cured by the first decimal attenu-
ation of Spongia tosta.
S. S. Guy, M. D., offered the following resolution: "That
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 295
members in good standing, who, from advanced age, retire from
the practice of medicine, may hold honorary membership and be
exempt from annual dues;" also, " That S. Z. Haven, M. D., be
permitted to withdraw from his association with the American In-
stitute of Homoeopathy."
The Committee on Scientific Subjects, appointed hx the Chair-
man, was Walter Williamson, M. D., G. W. Swazey, M. D., and
W. E. Payne, M. D.
The Central Bureau was B. F. Joslin, M. D., New York; J. S.
Douglas, M.D., Milwaukee; W. E. Payne, M.D., Bath, Me.; C. J.
Hempel, M. D„ Philadelphia, and J. P. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg.
The Committee of Arrangements for the next annual meeting
of the Institute, consisted of S. S. Guy, M. D., P. P. Wells, M.
D., and A. Cooke Hull, M. D., of Brooklyn, X. Y.
On motion of Dr. Shipman, of Chicago, it was resolved, that
the Secretary be instructed to notify every American Homoeo-
pathic Physician, whose address he may have, of the next annual
meeting of the Institute at Brooklyn.
G. W. Swazey, M. D., offered the following resolution which
was unanimously carried:
That, in the removal by death of Dr. Paul Wolff, of Dresden,
the American Institute of Homoeopathy has sustained the loss of
a most distinguished friend and co-laborer. That the services he
has rendered our cause in this country by the publication of his
eighteen Theses, also the service rendered this Association in pro-
curing the stone in our national monument, inscribed "Samuel
Hahnemann," will be held in long and affectionate remembrance.
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, called the attention of
the Institute to a printed handbill advertisement of Francis R.
Moore, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., of a character which savored of
quackery or gross empiricism, and offered a motion that the
Chairman appoint a committee of three to whom this subject
should be referred for immediate action. The resolution was
unanimously adopted and the Chairman appointed Drs. Shipman,
Barrows and Gallupe as said committee. After conferring to-
gether, the committee presented the following report which was
adopted unanimously:
The undersigned Committee, to whose consideration the case
of Dr. F. R. Moore, of Pittsburg, Pa., was submitted, beg leave
to present the following resolution :
Resolved, That F. R. Moore, M. D., of Pittsburg, Pa., be, and
296 American Institute of Homceopathy.
hereby is, expelled from the American Institute of Homoeopathy
for unprofessional advertisements.
Signed George E. Shipman,
Ira Barrows,
William Gallupe.
The following resolution was offered by J. M. Ward, M. D., of
Newark, N. J.
Resolved, That it is the duty of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy to extend a fostering care to the Homoeopathic
Medical Colleges of the United States, and exert its influence in
directing students of medicine, who are seeking admission to
the honors of the profession, to their Halls for instruction.
Dr. McManus offered the following resolution :
Resolved, That the members of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy tender their warmest acknowledgments to the
physicians of Chicago and of Illinois for the manner in which the
Institute has been received and entertained at this, its fourteenth
annual session.
Walter Williamson, M. D., Chairman of the Committee on
scientific subjects, offered the following appointments, which were
unanimously adopted:
C. M. Dake, M. D., of Geneseo, N. Y., on "Anaesthetic
Agents, Their Use and Abuse."
Richard Gardiner, M. D., of Philadelphia, on " Small-pox and
Kindred Pustular Diseases.''
J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg on " Water as a Therapeutic
Agent."
A. R. Bartlett, M. D., of Aurora, 111., on "Intermittent Fever."
J. M. Ward, M. D., of Newark, N. J., on " Mechanical Sup-
ports in the Treatment of Disease."
W. Williamson, M. D., of Philadelphia, on " Puerperal Fever."
Geo. E. Shipman, M. D., of Chicago, on "Parasites in Con-
nection with Disease."
D. M. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg, on " Evacuants, their Physi-
ological and Therapeutic Relations to the Human Economy."
W. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., on the "Alternation of
Remedies in Homoeopathic Practice."
P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., on "The Attenuation
of Medicine."
E. A. Gilbert, M. D., of Dubuque, Iowa, on "Chest Diseases,
their Diagnosis and Treatment."
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 297
A. E. Small, M. D., of Chicago, 111., on the "Influence of
Geological Formations on Disease."
John Ellis, M. D., of Detroit, Mich., on "The Scale for Prep-
aration of Homoeopathic Attenuations."
G. W. Swazey, M. D., of Springfield, Mass., on " Medical Dy-
namics."
S. M. Cate, M. D., of Augusta, Me., on "Scarlet Fever, its Pro-
phylaxis and its Treatment."
Walter Williamson, M. D., offered the subjoined resolution,
which was adopted and ordered to be published with the proceed-
ings of every year, preceding the Appendix:
Whereas, The American Institute of Homoeopathy has ap-
pointed from time to time, committees to make reports at its annual
meetings, on various subjects connected with medical science for
the purpose of eliciting truth, the mutual improvement of its
members, and the advancement of homoeopathic literature — a
cause which has been beneficial in the past and is cordially rec-
ommended for the future; nevertheless, each committee being at
liberty to advance its own doctrines without restraint or supervi-
sion, the American Institute ought not to be held responsible for
all the teachings of such reports. Therefore:
Resolved, "That the American Institute of Homoeopathy does
not necessarily endorse the doctrines contained in the reports of
committees by accepting and publishing such reports with the
proceedings."
On motion, Drs. Williamson and Helmuth, of Philadelphia,
were appointed a committee to devise and prepare a certificate or
diploma of membership suitable for the Institute, and for their
use, to be furnished at the next annual meeting.
Dr. Guy offered the following resolution which was adopted:
Resolved, That each present member of the American Institute
of Homoeopathy shall be entitled to the proposed diploma on the
payment of one dollar; new members to be entitled to the same on
the payment of the usual fee.
On motion of G. W. Swazey, M. D., the report of the Central
Bureau, which had been laid upon the table, was ordered to be
printed with the minutes. The report of Dr. Swazey was then
taken up for consideration, and on motion was ordered to be
printed.
It was moved that the report of the Committee on Water be re-
ferred to the Committee on Publication, with power to act.
298 Future Evolution in Medicine.
On motion the report of the Committee on Medical Ethics was
received and placed on file.
J. M. Ward, M. D., of Newark, N. J., was appointed to deliver
the next annual address before the Institute, with F. R. Mc-
Manus, M. D., of Baltimore, as his alternate.
The thanks of the Institute were voted to J . S. Douglas, M. D.,
for his eloquent address, and a copy requested for publication.
Thanks were also presented to J. P. Dake, M. D., Chairman, and
to the Secretaries and Treasurer for their faithful discharge of the
respective duties devolving upon them.
On motion of Dr. McManus the meeting adjourned to convene
in Brooklyn, N. Y., on the first Wednesday in June, 1858.
FUTURE EVOLUTION IN MEDICINE.
By Edward Cranch, M. D.
The papers of to-day announce a new use for capital, in the
proposed gifts of John D. Rockefeller for the furtherance of med-
ical research, taking up such work as is now being done in
government hospitals and laboratories in Europe.
This country has long needed just such endowments, yet past
history shows that in medicine, as in all else, the most weighty
and useful results have been attained through the efforts of un-
aided genius, with little apparatus and less capital — except that
with which Opie, or was it Reynolds? — mixed his paints " with
brains, sir, with brains."
Perhaps these institutions will endeavor to demonstrate the
truth and usefulness of Homoeopathy, and perhaps not.
If not. we must stick to our text a little longer, and show the
world that Homoeopathy not only has "contributed to science,"
but is itself a science as well as an art.
Speaking generally, however, and comparing the practice of
medicine with other pursuits, has it occured to us whither we are
tending with our great machines, our medical " trusts," the hos-
pital and dispensary ?
Many articles have been devoted to showing the destructive
effect of the trusts upon the smaller industries, and of the
hospitals and dispensaries upon the establishment of private
practice, especially in the larger cities, but think now what the}'
really mean, and what seems to be their manifest destiny.
Senate of Seniors. 299
Just as the trusts, as their prophesied successors the bureaus of
co-operative government, are proceeding to replace competition
with salaried employment, so hospitals, when they become so
numerous as to really endanger private practice, will have to pay
salaries to all their staffs, for if the prospect of an increased private
practice is eliminated no one will longer serve free on the staff of
any hospital, nor would any one now, except for the advertising
that goes with such positions, or the experience, to be used in
practice later.
But suppose the hospitals so numerous and attractive that every
sick person will make it the wish to go there for every illness,
then see how much easier may the physician's life become.
Then the hospital will pay the doctor's salary, limit his hours,
grant him due vacations, and provide his office instruments and
drugs.
When he can live at peace, when not on duty, and be free from
bad debts and several other anxieties, and will be able to keep up
social relations where he likes without fear of invading some other
doctor's private domain, there will also be better opportunity
for fraternity among doctors. On the other hand, they will have
to use political influence and stand repeated civil service examina-
tions to keep their posts, and patients will lose the sweet privilege
of employing and discharging the physicians of their choice, but
must take what the '' ward hospital can supply."
Do not smile; this may well be what we are coming to, if the
State Board takes up medicine as it does now the matter of educa-
tion.
Therefore, the homoeopath must fight harder than ever for the
useful discoveries of his school, or they will be lost and drowned
out in the new turmoils of the times to come.
Erie, Pa., June 3, 1901.
SENATE OF SENIORS.
By a Senior.
The Senate of Seniors of the American Institute of Homoeop-
athy is an honorable body that can exert a great influence upon
the cause. We all know that the opposition to the cause we all
love is not as outspoken, except in certain sections, but, neverthe-
less, is quite as potent as in our earlier days. The advancement
of Homoeopathy is steady, but too slow, and the problem that
300 A Victory for Internal Vaccination.
should engage us at our annual conclave should be: What more
can we do to advance the cause ? Every new member should pre-
sent an epitome of his record, i. How he became a Homoeopath;
2. What he has done for the cause; 3. What he has done for
Medical Science; and 4. What he has done for the national body.
This would arouse the smouldering fires of his enthusiasm, if any
were needed.
Every Senior should secure the enlistment of at least two new
members every year.
Every Senior should get one student in line to study medicine
in one of our own colleges.
Every Senior should secure the conversion of one physician to
the cause each year.
In the Institute there are certain committees that should be
filled by Seniors. They are the judicial body, but such com-
mittees as that of Resolutions, Memorial, Science, literature, Ed-
ucation, Organization and International Bureau, and perhaps
others, should be made up of working Seniors. The Seniors
might work up such a lively interest in the influence of the
national gathering that the places could be partially arranged for
in advance, and thus effect the greatest good for the cause.
Suppose there was a tacit understanding that if San Francisco
City Council would invite the Institute to meet there next year,
Boston, Portland, New Haven or Cincinnati the next year, and
St. Louis would invite our national gathering there during their
great fair the influence would be fourfold to what it is to-day,
would it not ?
These are matters for the Senate of Seniors to consider and act
upon — while we may.
A VICTORY FOR INTERNAL VACCINATION.
Pine Bluff, ark., June 3, 1901.
Editor of the Homceopathic Recorder.
In the case of the City of Pine Bluff, Ark., vs. Dr. Wells
LeFever for refusing to be vaccinated by scarification, I regret to
say that my attorneys have been unable to get a trial, though
they have made all sorts of propositions to effect this, since we
wished to make a test case of it. After careful investigation the
attorney for the prosecution dismissed the case and Judge Grace,
presiding, commended that act by adding his personal opinion
Proceedings of The Homoeopathic Society of Ohio. 301
that for unwarranted invasion of personal rights this attempt sur-
passed anything in his knowledge.
The imposition of compulsory vaccination has thus received its
coup in this part of the country. The feeling against it, already
strong, has been greatly intensified by this fiasco.
On a few cases of our present epidemic of small-pox remain,
and all these are among those who have been ' ' successfully vacci-
nated" so I hope to soon be able to report my experience with
internal vaccination which has now carried me through three
epidemics without a failure up to date.
Fraternally yours,
Wells Le Fever, M. D.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL
SESSION OF THE HOMOEOPATHIC MEDI-
CAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
Pickings Therefrom.
What We Owe Hahnemann.
Said President Dr. C. E. Sawyer:
" But for the ' porcelain painter's son,' but for his forbearance
of persecution, but for his force of conviction, so strong as to for-
ever stand out against the maledictions and abuses of all contem-
poraries; but for his heart full of love for suffering humanity, we
as his followers could never have existed. To the law he pro-
mulgated and so bravely defended against the prejudices and con-
tumely of opponents of the bitterest type, we as homoeopathic
physicians owe our art. If to the sage of Meissen so much is due,
dare we fail to commemorate his name when the opportunity pre-
sents? Echo answers, No, no ! Positively no ! "
Spots on Beauty.
Said Dr. C. E. House, he of McKinley's home:
"Show me a lady with a liver spot, or a moth patch on her
face, and I will show you a woman who will give shekels to have it
removed."
Then after the subject had been treated from the other sides he
gives the following therapeutic pointers:
"Sepia. Yellow saddle across the nose and upper part of
cheeks; also yellow spots on the face.
302 Proceedi?tgs of The Homoeopathic Society of Ohio.
" Argentum nitricum. Skin from a bluish gray to a bronze or
real black, especially in syphilitic subjects.
"Lycopodium. Skin unhealthy. Sluggishness of periferic activ-
ities, with brown liver spots.
"Iodine. Rough, dry skin, inclined to be dirty yellow or brown.
liHepar sulphur. Yellow jaundiced skin.
" Thuja. Skin looks dirty. Dark brown spots here and there,
especially in tertiary syphilis.
"Petroleum. Brown and yellow spots on the skin.
"Plumbum metallicum. Dark brown spots on the skin, espe-
cially in pregnancy. Dry, withered, yellow-spotted skin.
Pin your faith to the indicated remedy, for permanency of cure
will depend on success in the removal of functional and diseased
conditions, as it is fair to presume repigmentation if the same
conditions obtain."
Medical Examining Boards.
Dr. J. A. Gann, of Worcester, got off the following on the sub-
ject, but of course it would never, never do:
"I would have an examining board, not primarily for the
applicant, but for the medical college.
I would make the requirements so strong that only men who
possessed recognized ability should occupy its chairs ; and whose
presence would be a guarantee of the character of the man they
would recommend for graduation.
I would have its faculty in no way connected with the business
management of the college; only responsible to a board of control
composed of two classes: i. Physicians elected by the alumni ;
and 2. Thorough-going business or professional (not medical),
also elected by the alumni. This board of control should examine
by its appointed representatives, or censors, all applicants for
graduation (not admission); and their judgment to be final."
A Surgeon on Homoeopathic Therapeutics.
Dr. H. F. Biggar gave a case of septic parotiditis which, after
sixteen operations and everything that modern surgery and
medical science could do for it, was pronounced incurable by the
old school men. But Dr. Biggar added to the treatment Lachesis
30X. with this result:
" At our club lunch the doctors had a round table especially for
their service; at this coterie I was the only ' irregular. ' The con-
Proceedings of The Homoeopathic Society of Ohio. 303
sultant was one at 'our mess,' and was interested in the daily
reports, as well as the other doctors of ' our set.' The symptoms,
pathology and treatment, were freely discussed, with the usual
ending that ' your patient will die, for none ever recovered with
septic parotiditis.' When convalescence followed they were
amazed; they knew that the patient had been treated according
to their sustaining methods, which had theretofore be unsuccess-
ful, and were surprised at the recovery of the patient. I then
told them that in addition to their approved treatment, Lachesis
had been added. Many were the witty sallies, pleasantries, gentle
sarcasms and remarks, slightly tinged with ridicule, as to the
efficacy of the ' only two drops of lachesis ever secured ' for all
the future preparations of this remedy. Nevertheless the re-
sult proved the value of the remedy."
" It is surprising that our good brethren of the regulars will
•not be convinced, especially after they have seen the splendid re-
sults of certain kinds of headache; and when Gelsemium and
Rhus tox. control toxic fever, and Phosphorus cc. has relieved
the nausea of pregnancy (when the leading gynaecological masters
of the old school asserted that the only possible relief was in
abortion), and when the great success of homoeopathic remedies
in pneumonia, and so on, are as frequently noted, I conclude that
there are 'none so blind as those who will not see.' Homoe-
opath}- has not only sense and science in the administration of
drugs, but what is of more import, it has the success."
"Of course, my good friends, the doctors were not willing to
give the Lachesis the credit for the cure."
This was followed by four other cases in which Lachesis did the
work. Concluding as follows:
" I trust that the narration of some of the clinical experiences
with those suffering from septic parotiditis will not be without
profit. I believe the sustaining treatment is very necessary in
conjunction with the Lachesis, the curative remedy; and after an
experience with five desperate cases of septic parotiditis I think
that I should have confidence in the curative action of Lachesis
trigo?wcephalus. ' '
Vaccination and Antitoxin.
Dr. H. D. Beckwith's paper on "The Physician's Respon-
sibility in Spreading Disease" called out some interesting dis-
cussion. Dr. Beckwith's paper said:
304 Proceedings of The Homoeopathic Society of Ohio.
" I believe many cases of small-pox that now exist in the State
might have been avoided had the attending physicians taken due
precautionary measures. It is the opinion of 99 per cent, of the
intelligent and educated physicians that vaccination is the only
method to check the spreading of small-pox."
Dr. Walton: "How does Dr. Beckwith know that vaccina-
tion prevents small-pox ? There is a vast difference between a be-
lief and a knowledge. I don't believe that a large majority of
intelligent physicians believe that vaccination will prevent small-
pox; the most that they can say is that it will modify the form of
it. If it will prevent small-pox, why is it that in the German
army, where we have had vaccination over and over again, that a
very large proportion of the soldiers contract small-pox and die ?
We know these things, I feel that there are some things about
vaccination that are hidden."
Dr. Cameron said that the decline in small-pox was due to
other' causes than vaccination.
Dr. Schneider called Dr. Walton's attention to the fact that
during the Franco-! russian war the German army was vaccinated
and the French army was not, and that the French soldiers died
by hundreds and thousands.
(Curious how that story will not down. Every French soldier
was and is vaccinated; and, furthermore, small-pox ravaged well-
vaccinated Germany and that German army. One province in
Germany had over 30,000 cases, and practically all vaccinated.)
Dr. Means said that sanitary science is the best to prevent the
spread of disease.
Dr. Maxwell: " Has the President ever been vaccinated."
The Chairman: " Yes, I had three vaccinations and then had
confluent small-pox. Three-fourths of the cases in this State
have been successfully vaccinated. In regard to diphtheria. I
practiced medicine seven years in Huron. They had a good deal
of sore throat there to which the}- never called a doctor. I had
many cases of diphtheria as well, and out of thirty-seven cases
never lost one. Antitoxin, they say, will cure diphtheria. I
have found the bichromate of potash hotnceopathically adminis-
tered a sufficient remedy in the cases I attended. I never lost
one such case. They have to have an outlet for their horse serum
and so the State recommends it, and our little town purchased
§275 worth of the stuff for treating the poor."
There is a good deal more of this discussion. The general
drift seemed to be against vaccination and antitoxin.
Rhus Aromatica. 305
A Cough Case.
This is by Dr. T. M. Stewart, of Cincinnati. It seems to show
that some of the " rubbish " in Hahnemann's Materia Medica is
rather useful at times.
1. " Patient a young man, aged 28. Suffering from a bad
cold, with laryngitis. The acute symptoms were controlled by
Gelsemium. A hard, ringing metallic cough continued, however,
to give him considerable annoyance. The cough was excited by
deep breathing or by talking. When walking or moving about
in his office he would suddenly choke up, "could not get his
breath." I gave him Sambucus, a remedy useful in similar con-
ditions; Spongza and Lachesis. His condition remained unchanged
for a week, and in getting the ameliorations and aggravations to
help me out in my next prescription, I found that the ' ' cough
was relieved by eating." He had already taken Spongia. But
his mental condition bordering on the profanity margin, led me
to prescribe Anacardium orientale 3X; prompt relief from the
annoying cough marked the prescription of the remedy. Sprays,
inhalations and local applications to the larynx were used as
palliative measures."
How our friend, Geo. M. G., M. D., would laugh over a men-
tal symptom guiding to a remedy for a cough ! But it got there
just the same.
RHUS AROMATICA.
By Dr. A. W. K. Choudhury.
Rhus aromat. — My experience with this remedy is very limited.
We see in May number of Vol. XI. of the Homoeopathic
Recorder, that the remedy is used in material doses of ten drops.
I, as usually with me, have tried the medicine in the minutest
possible dose, a globule a dose. I got a quantity of the mother
tincture of the remedy from the house of Boericke & Tafel, New
York, and tried the medicine in two cases.
Case I. — A relation of mine, aged about 10, had to pass water
involuntarily four or five times nightly. He used this medicine
in globule doses, twice daily. He is recovered; enuresis during
sleep stopped the following night after using the medicine. Its
about half a year past he has got rid of the complaint. This was
a chronic case.
306 Rhus Aromatica.
Case II. — The patient is an old Mahommedan of about 60; came
to dispensary February 27, 1901, for the treatment of enuresis of
• bout a year's standing.
History and S}mrptoms of the case: — Had an attack of intermit-
tent fever just before the commencement of this present illness.
Allopathic medicines were used for the fever. The fever became
masked and urination increased. Burning of the eyes; slight
burning of the soles of the feet and palms of the hands; heat from
vertex; sleeplessness; appetite good about forenoon; taste in
mouth insipid; tongue clean, moist and somewhat pale; appear-
ance pale; no fever now, but he complains of having fever; per-
spiration of axillae at night; bowels open daily twice or thrice;
stools permeated with no thread- worms; bad smell of stool; gets
up at night four or five times to pass water; seven or eight times
he passes water in the daytime; asthmatic tendency morning and
evening. Lachrymation. Enlarged spleen. Pain under percus-
sion on epigastrium and right hypochondrium.
Had itch-eruptions on many occasions. Had ringworm, but
never pitiriasis. Inoculated, not vaccinated. Had an attack of
chicken-pox after the inoculation.
He was given Rhus aromata 0, one globule per dose, two doses
daily. Ordered two meals daily, and to bathe daily. He was
given six doses for three days.
He came to dispensary March 3d and reported wonderful and
almost unexpected results; did not get up the previous night to
pass water.
The 14th of March, 1901, was the last day of his attendance.
He had nothing to complain of the increase of urination. He
was continuing well. (28-3-1901.)
The reduced state of his health, his bloodlessness, enlarged
spleen and liver, and the advanced stage of the urinary trouble
were all against his speedy recovery. He attended the dispensary
sixteen days only; satisfactory improvement was reported on the
second day of his attendance.
Here is another case of enuresis nocturna recovering under
Rhus aromat. This is the third case of the series, entered in my
Case Book XIII. as the sixty-fourth patient. A female low class
Mahommedan child, aged about 9, came to my dispensary the
29th of March, 1901, for the treatment of enuresis nocturna, from
which she had been suffering from her very early age. She was
noted down in my Case Book as follows: Bowels open daily,
Phellandrium in Consumption. 307
twice or thrice; thread- worms since early age; no frequent mic-
turition by day; appetite good; tongue with aphthous erosion
anterior, posterior coated yellowish. Perspiration of hands and
axillae. Passes water at night in sleep.
She was given Phus aromat. 0, one globule per dose, two doses
daily, given six doses, for three days.
I was rather for Sulph. than for the new medicine. However,
to try its efficacy in the treatment of the disease, I gave her the
new medicine and not Sulph.
She appeared the 1st of April, 1901, and I was extremly happy
to note that the disease had disappeard since the commencement
of the treatment, she having no more night wetting.
Calcutta. India.
PHELLANDRIUM IN CONSUMPTION.
A Word of Consolation to Consumptives.
By Dr. Hegewald, of Meiningen.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
d. Horn., May, 1901.
On the 24th of February, 1901, there appeared in my office a
patient whose death had been expected five months ago, and who
was said to be suffering from incurable consumption. Her name
is entered in my books as Mrs. Pf. , from B., in the highlands of
Meiningen, tuberculosis. I did not recognize the lady, and when
she gave me her name I was amazed. Five months ago I pre-
scribed for her a homceopathic potency of water-hemlock (Phel-
la?idrium), and had recommended her tea made of this plant, and
she has become so used to it that she is still using it as a bever-
age. She was accompanied by her husband and seemed to feel
well after her railroad trip.
This interesting case of Mrs. Pf. is by no means isolated. A
young man, G. Seren, a passionate cyclist, who is also a cornetist,
had run down so much that he was the very image of the con-
sumptive. A physical examination put an end to any doubt on
the subject. Two persons helped him up into my office with con-
siderable exertion on their part, and arrived all out of breath.
Phellandrium restored him to the great surprise of all who knew
him; the medicine being supplemented with Iodium and Aurum
foliatum.
Other cases may be found in our journals as proofs. In this
308 Phellandrium in Consumption.
same journal I remember reading, in the year 1891, that Phel-
landrium is a sovereign remedy for consumption in its curable
stage, and this opinion was assented to by credible medical writers.
Pliny, long time ago, knew of this curative power of water-
hemlock which he calls Phellandrium aquaticum.
The celebrated physician, Marcus Herz, was one of the first
who prescribed this remedy in consumption, and no less an author
than Boerhave was also its panegyrist.
It is a matter of course that a plant of such wonderful proper-
ties would not be neglected by homoeopathic practitioners. As
we see from "Hartlaub and Trinks," Dr. Nenning proved it, but
the proving was so defective that Jahr could only describe it as
" defective." A second proving would seem to be called for.
Dr. Michea regarded water-hemlock as a specific in all serious
affections of the respiratory organs, and this opinion seems justi-
fied.
Among the striking symptoms in the physical proving of
Phellayidiium, recorded are : heaviness of the head with sen-
sation of fulness, lachrymation of the eyes and photophobia,
also sensitiveness of the organ of hearing. The remedy should
have an undoubted usefulness in bronchitis, emphysema and
phthisis. It is also indicated when the sputa of the consumptive
are exceedingly malodorous and abundant. This was also the ex-
perience of Dr. Charge, a celebrated homoeopathic practitioner in
Tamaris.
We cannot, however, always obtain the homoeopathic prepara-
tions of Phellandrium, and in such cases the infusion of the herb
as tea may be used. While practicing in the country I used to
call the attention of my patients to the collecting of Phellandrium,
This is done more easily since the plant usually grows in stagnant
water, ditches or swamps. It blooms from May till July, the seed
ripening in September. The tea may also be found in most drug
stores. The homoeopathic preparation can, however, only be
relied on if purchased from the regular homoeopathic pharmacies
or legal depositories.
Since this plant usually grows where consumption is found, the
adage of the old doctor holds ga>od also in this case: ubi morbus,
ibi remedium.
Magnesia Phosphorica in Menstrual Colic. 309
MAGNESIA PHOSPHORICA IN MENSTRUAL
COLIC.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.y
April, 1901.
A woman, 26 years °f a§e> wi*h dark nair and blue eyes, of con-
siderable corpulence and of a highly nervous temperament, had
been obliged for years to spend in bed two or three days during
every monthly period. About eight hours after the appearance of
her monthly flow she was seized with the most severe pains, at
times in the region of the ovaries, sometimes in the whole of the
abdomen. These were frequently accompanied with headache,
nausea and vomiting. Only by quietly remaining in her warm
bed and by applying hot fomentations she could gain any relief.
She received Magnesia phosphor. 3 D. during her attack, every
ten to fifteen minutes in hot water, and the action of the remedy
was so palpable that she thought I had given her Morphi?ie.
After a few doses the pain diminished and she became sleepy.
Three months' treatment, using Magnesia and Calcarea
phosphor, with suitable dieting, produced such an improvement
that she now passes without any trouble through her menstual
period, which before had caused her so much trouble.
A characteristic indication for Mag?iesia is the convulsive
spasmodic kind of pain and its alleviation from warmth and
pressure.
A CASE OF MALARIA.
By Dr. E. Schlegel, of Tubingen.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
April, 1 90 1.
On the 1 8th of October, in company with a colleague, I visited
the theological student N., 23 years old, who had been studying
in the neighborhood of Triest and had been taken sick with
cough and serious gastric troubles. The cough was connected
with a foamy, tough expectoration. In the beginning of Sep-
tember his state became such that he came home. But before
leaving, during a south wind, he was taken with fever which
made him very weary. On the second day after his return, on
the 8th of September at 1 1 p. m. , he had an attack of fever, with
chill and heat, followed by perspiration. The doctor prescribed
310 A Case of Malaria.
quinine in pretty strong (allopathic) doses, and the patient dur-
ing the following days had fever every evening; but it became
gradually milder until September 18th, when it ceased. Now
there was a pause till October nth, when a cold caused a re-
lapse at 2 p. m. This was repeated October 14th at 6 p. M.,
October 17th at 3:30 p. m. and on October 18th in the afternoon.
I came to see the patient, who seemed to have chills and fever,
but still did not show, as yet, any series of typical attacks in
regular succession.
The appearance of the patient gave to me, as well as to my
colleague, the impression of a well-advanced case of consumption;
the patient was tall and slim, narrow-chested, with flat chest,
high degree of emaciation, still continuing; the nightly perspira-
tions were pretty severe, but had diminished of late, as was also
the case with his cough. The physician who had treated him so
far had somewhat suspected tuberculosis, and found the lungs not
quite clear; but he had also spoken of intermittent fever. The
gums of the patient were strikingly anaemic, more than is usually
seen in consumptives. The pulse was verv frequent, the heart
beat augmented, some dry rhonchi could be heard in the lungs,
and the sound anteriorly at the top was somewhat weakened.
I could not say that there was any increase in the dulness from
the spleen.
First of all I prescribed perfect rest in bed, and that the
temperature should be taken both morning and evening, also
caution in diet, which was to be predominantly vegetarian. Since
the patient stated that he had been subjected in the South to a
diet which he could not endure and which was altogether inferior,
frequently causing vomiting, and which also made him fall off, I
thought it likely that this disturbance in his sustenance had
caused a diminution of his power of resistance, thus enabling the
disease to break out in such a dangerous fashion. The injurious
effect of heat which he had observed, together with the facts be-
fore stated, caused me to give him a dose of A?iti?nonium crud.
30, and then to await further diagnostic developments. Nor had
I long to wait. On the 19th of October (the day after my visit)
the temperature rose to 39. 8° (103. 6° F.), so also there came
attacks of fever on the 21st of October and on the 23d, always
one hour earlier, while on the days where there was no fever
the temperature was only 37 ° C. (98. 6° F.). The diagnose,
therefore, was: Intermittens tertiana.
A Case of Malaria. 311
I now gave another homoeopathic remedy. The attack had
developed in the following manner: Weariness and ill humor for
one hour, then chill without thirst, followed by headache and
thirt; then perspiration, especially on the head and on the upper
part of the body. I accordingly selected Arsenicum 30, which
according to the symptoms and their gravity had the preference
(according to Boenninghausen), three doses of pellets, one on
the evening of the fever and one morning and evening of
the free day. On the 24th of October there was no fever, on
the 25th there came an attack with vomiting, little and brief
perspiration, and also one hour earlier. This attack ma}- have
been complicated by an error in diet; the patient had drunk sweet
(new) wine and eaten cake. But still on the whole he felt some-
what better. Then I gave him one dose of Pulsatilla 30. On the
27th the fever returned, but considerably milder, all the stages
being shortened. Tne appetite was good and there was little
weariness. Nevertheless during the fever stage the temperature
still rose to 1040 F. On the 28th, without medicine, the patient
felt well with increasing appetite. On the 29th for the first time
the fever was absent, while a healthy appetite appeared and the
patient rose from his bed. On the 6th of November he had not
had any further attacks, only some traces on November 3d, when
the pulse rose to 80 beats. He looks much better; his gums are
becoming red again; stool daily; the urine somewhat turbid, no
more vomiting, sometimes little coughing, also frequent sneezing.
Another dose of Pulsatilla 30. At a slight touch of fever a few
days later the patient allowed himself to be persuaded to take
another allopathic dose of quinine. But this did not change any-
thing in the position of affairs. The young man had been cured
of his severe attack by Antimonium cr.} Arsenicum and Pulsatilla,
all of these remedies being given in the 30th potency; and these
remedies had restored him so that he looked well and felt well.
He could then at once resume his studies.
Dandruff white and drier than asual, Mezereum.
Itching, miliary rash; itching rash worse from scratching,
Mezereum.
Transient blindness, Nitrum.
Frequent intense itching in the face, Nitrum.
Profuse sweat of the feet, Petroleum.
— Ch ron ic Diseases .
312 From My Practice.
FROM MY PRACTICE.
By Dr. Mau, of Itzehoe.
Translated for the Homeopathic Recorder from Leipziger Pop. Z. f.
Horn., October, 1900.
Latent Tuberculosis.
About three months ago I had to treat a gentleman of about 40
years of age, who had been suffering from gonorrhoea and, for the
last eight days, also from inflammation of the testicle. I pre-
scribed Clematis erecta, for the testicle was very much swollen,
hard and painful. The remedy had no effect. Surmising that
the inflammation of the testicle was an effect of the gonorrhoea,
after fourteen days I gave Clematis in alternation with Thuja oc-
cide?i talis 6; but also this medication, to my great astonishment,
proved quite ineffectual. Now, how was it that a remedy which
had always proved most effective in my hands and in that of other
doctors here remained without any effect at all ? Was the in-
flammation after all not the effect of the gonorrhoea ? It surely
must have been an effect of it; but the fact that the remedies
proved ineffectual showed that the constitution of the patient was
weighed down by still another, perhaps by several diseases. But
of what nature was this other disease ? I made a very searching
investigation, inquired about his vaccination, about other diseases
he had passed through, about cutaneous diseases which might
have been "cured" by external remedies; I asked whether the
patient in his childhood had suffered from discharges from the
ears, inflammation of the eyes, eruptions on his face or his scalp,
or from glandular swellings. To every question I received a neg-
ative answer; the patient had always been healthy, there were no
hereditary diseases in the family, etc. A general objective exam-
ination of the whole body was also of absolutely no avail. What,
then, should I do? It was plain that the statements of the
patient could not be in accordance with the facts, but it was also
evident that the patient knew no more about the case. Fortu-
nately I remembered that I had treated the twelve-year-old son of
the patient for tuberculous glands several years before. Thence
I concluded that the constitutional burden of the father — and cir-
cumstances proved that there was such a burden — must consist in
a latent tuberculosis, which the son must have inherited from the
father.
From My Practice. 313
Accordingly I prescribed Tuberculin 100, one dose a week.
The result was a complete cure of the inflammation of the testicle,
as well as of the gonorrhoea, within a few weeks. What would
have been the result if the patient had not received Tuberculin ?
II.
Subjective Symptoms.
I here remember another case of gonorrhoea which defied all
the remedies for this disease, no matter what potency was given,
and was only cured when the patient, who in his infancy had suf-
fered from swollen glands, received Tuberculin. These cases
prove how important it is in chronic cases that we should receive a
complete and faithful accomit of the whole of the previous life of
the patient; for the fundamental disease, here tuberculosis, is
very frequently latent, i. e., not recognizable to the objective ex-
aminer. This is the reason why homoeopathic physicians, who
are usually consulted in such cases, often find themselves called
in in cases which have been pronounced sound by other physicians
and dismissed as cured. Such assertions can be made by physi-
cians only when they regard the objective symptoms of the disease
merely, while completely neglecting the subjective, i. e., the
symptoms felt and complained of by the patient, but which the
examiner cannot himself perceive, e.g., pains and other merely
subjective symptoms. Whoever wishes to treat patients success-
fully must regard not only the objective symptoms but also the
subjective; the subjective symptoms, indeed, are frequently the
most important for the Homoeopath, because they frequently de-
termine the selection of the remedy.
III.
Suppressed Eruption.
The next case concerns a girl of ten years. She had been suf-
fering for four weeks from a bad cough, which had the sound
peculiar to croup. The cough in her case appeared very fre-
quently, especially every time she took cold, and as the child in
spite of its woolen (Jaeger) underclothing was very sensitive, she
took cold from the slightest cause. Then the cough would last
for several weeks, when it would gradually disappear, but return
soon again. The patient at the same time suffered from chronic
hoarseness. She also frequently was seized with vomiting when
but little saliva, but mostly clear water and also masses of mucus
were discharged, accompanied with pains in the stomach. The
314 Inflammation of the Throat and Compresses.
complex of these symptoms, the croupy cough, the hoarseness
and the vomiting pointed to a great sensitiveness of the larynx
and a sympathetic morbid state of the stomach and probably
rested on a tuberculous basis, at least a sister of the mother of the
child had suffered from an inflammation of the hip. Still this
tuberculous encumbrance did not seem to be severe. The attacks
of the child had continued for seven years. When three years
old the child had had an eruption which the doctor had ' ' cured ' '
with salves, and thus by external means ; a short time after " the
cure" of this eruption these attacks, always lasting several weeks,
had begun. Now the question arises, had these attacks any con-
nection with the eruption or not ? I do not think that there are
many physicians, excepting homoeopaths, of course, who would
acknowledge any connection. If a connection were recognized,
it would necessarily follow that this treatment of eruptions by ex-
ternal means would be rejected as injurious. My view about it
is very decided, and according to this view I selected the remedy
which in a short time effected a cure. I believe that the eruption
from which the little girl had suffered in her third year had in
no way been healed by the external application of ointments, but
had only been driven in, and the consequence of driving in this
eruption was seen in the appearance of these attacks. Many doctors
had been consulted, she had even at last made a journey to a
distant city where she had consulted the professor in a university.
My prescription was first, a few doses of Thuja 30, then Psorin.
100, every week a dose, and in ten weeks the child was perma-
nently restored to perfect health. The eruption, as, indeed, some-
times happens, and not recurred in the course of the treatment.
INFLAMMATION OF THE THROAT AND COM-
PRESSES.
By Dr. Berlin, of Guben.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z J.
Horn., February, 1901.
Not only most physicians, but also most people in general, seem
to consider sore throat and water compresses as inseparable ideas,
so that as soon as any one complains of sore throat they are ready
with their compresses. Generally these compresses are made of
cold water under the supposition that heat, redness, swelling, and
pain can only be removed by cold and cooling applications. Such
Inflammation of the Throat and Compresses. 315
compresses also actually prove very useful in contending with in-
flammation of the throat. But it will not infrequently be found
that the symptom of inflammation, in spite of cold compresses or
frequently just because of them, grow constantly worse because
they were not suited to the case.
Among many such cases which have come to my notice I will
only mention two to show how an irrational use of cold compresses
may prove injurious.
I. In the fall of 1898 I was called to a young married woman
of Breslau, who was visiting here. She complained that for a
week she had had pains in her throat, and now for several days
she had been hardly able to swallow, i. e., she could only do so
with the most severe pains, and she found even speaking a matter
of difficulty. The physician w7ho treated her had prescribed a
gargle and cold compresses, but instead of improvemont there was
a continued aggravation. The throat was much swollen on the
inside and looked very dark red, the mucous membrane being
coated with tough, grayish-yellow phlegm. I gave the woman
Mercwius corros. 4, five drops every two hours; discontinued at
once the cold compresses, and had hot compresses applied to her
throat. I also gave her a weak solution of salt to gargle with.
Next day all the symptoms of inflammation had much diminished,
and the woman felt considerably better.
II. Another case is of a later date. A woman was complain-
ing of most severe pains in her throat, so that she could only swal-
low liquid food, and this with difficulty. At the same time there
were violent lancinations in both the ears. And though she had
a physician who had been attending her for the last two weeks,
her state was only getting worse. She feared for the worst, and
had therefore determined to make a change. Her pains at the
present were not only on the inside of the throat, but they were
violent also on the outside, e. g. , on movement and on pressure.
An examination, accordingly, showed that the whole throat was
swollen externally and was everywhere very sensitive to the touch.
On the inside the whole of the fauces was severely swollen, but
especially the tonsils, and on them there appeared grayish-yellow
spots from two-thirds of an inch to one inch in diameter. The}7
were not a coating, for they could easily be wiped off with raw
cotton; it was pus emanating from the excretory ducts of the ton-
sils. The mucous coating of the fauces was dark red to bluish
red and was covered in spots with tough mucus. There was,
3x6 Inflammation of the Throat and Compresses,
therefore, an acute inflammation of the throat with suppuration in
the tonsils. The pus in the tonsils had been observed by the phy-
sician ever since the fourth day. The woman had lost strength,
so that she found it difficult to walk to my office. The treatment
up to the last two days had consisted in the routine application of
cold compresses to the throat, and in cold gargling with a solu-
tion of the poisonous Kali chloricum, and later on with a red fluid.
When the woman, two days ago, refused to continue her cold
compresses the physician prescribed a gray ointment (mercury-
ointment) to be rubbed in the outside of the throat, with as little
good effects as the cold compresses. My prescription was the
same as in the first case mentioned above: hot compresses renewed
every eight or ten minutes, gargling with a warm solution of com-
mon salt, and internally Mercurius solub. 3 D. Next day I re-
received the report that the throat was much better, and that the
woman could already swallow solid food.
In both of these cases the application of cold compresses was
unsuitable; in both cases they were out of place, and they were
the only cause why the disease lasted in the one case eight, and
in the other even fourteen, days. It was especially reprehensible
in the second case where there was suppuration in the tonsils.
Even a layman would hardly think of putting a cold compress in-
stead of a warm one on a suppurating sore.
For better understanding I shall enter a little more particularly
on the subject of compresses. In affections of the throat three
kinds of compresses are in use: (1) Cold, (2) stimulative, and
(3) hot compresses.
Cold compresses are such as are made with water at a tempera-
ture of 540 Fahrenheit or lower, and are renewed three, five or ten
minutes, as soon as they begin to get lukewarm. In order that
these cold compresses may not get warm too quickly, they ought
to be made of six to eight folds and covered little or not at all, for
the intention is to cool off the part covered. By this means a con-
traction of the blood vessels takes place, the skin and the tissues
immediately subjacent are cooled off to a certain depth, and thence
become pale and anaemic; the circulation is rendered slower and
less in degree, and the consumption of the tissues which is de-
pendent on a certain degree of warmth is made slower by the
cold. Cold also serves to check the fermentation and decomposi-
tion of organic substances. Thus the process of inflammation is
decidedly diminished or removed by means of cold compresses.
Inflammation of the Throat and Compresses. 317
Stimulative compresses are generally made with two, three or at
most with four folds, and somewhat warmer on the average than
the cold compresses, i. «?., of 68° to 81 ° F., though this difference
is not essential, and they are covered with two to four thicknesses
of a woolen stuff. They are not quickly changed, but remain
around the throat two to four hours. The intention with these
compresses is not to cool off but to warm, and also in other respects
it is to have a contrary effect from the cold compresses. If we
apply such a compress at a temperature of 68° F. to the skin, it
first produces a sensation of cold, but soon the compress becomes
warm, the temperature of the skin and of the compress become
equable, and as there is but little loss of heat owing to the woolen
covering the temperature under the compress rises to blood heat
and even higher. This causes the blood vessels to expand, the
circulation both in the veins and in the arteries is quickened and
augmented, and the life of the cells is increased. So also the
products of inflammation are made more suitable for solution and
absorption through the improvement in the circulation and the
serous drenching of the tissues. The formation of pus is also
furthered, the secretion incited and membranes (<?. g.t diphtheritic
membranes) are loosened and cast off.
Hot compresses have a temperature of 1220 to 1440 F. They
should have six to eight folds and be covered with two to four
folds of a woolen stuff, flannel or other woolens, so that they may
not cool off too quickly, and they should be renewed like the cold
compresses every three, five to ten minutes, as soon as they begin
to get luke-warm. Under such compresses the parts covered are
heated, the bloodvessels expand and the circulation of the blood
and other fluids is quickened and augmented. The decomposition
and renewal of the tissues is accelerated, suppuration and the
formation of pus is quickened, and the products of inflammation
are transmuted, loosened and resolved.
As to the practical application of these compresses, cold com-
presses are of use merely in the beginning of inflammation of the
throat, while the mucous membrane is as yet deep red and is not
yet much swollen thus in the first six, twelve or at most twenty-
four hours. By a correct application, these cold compresses cool
all the tissues even to the inflamed portions, and during this time
the symptoms of inflammation, such as redness, swelling and
pains are much alleviated. But if this is not affected in six to
twelve hours, the cold compresses should be stopped, and the
318 Inflammation of the TJiroat and Compresses.
stimulative compresses should be used instead, which by freeing
and accelerating the circulation will quicken the course of the in-
flammation. To effect a thorough cooling of the neck, an ap-
propriately formed ice-bag may also be used. In such a case we
first apply a four to six fold cold compress, cover it with an im-
pervious stuff, such as oilcloth or India-rubber paper, and around
this the ice-bag is applied; for if the cooling of the tissues does not
penetrate deeply enough, we get a result the very opposite^ of
what is intended; for the cooling of the bloodvessels which attends
the cooling process of the skin and of the tissues immediately
subjacent will cause and increase of temperature in the more
internal tissues. A superficial cooling off of the throat will,
therefore, aggravate instead of alleviating the state of the patient.
Cold compresses are also contra-indicated when the mucous mem-
brane of the fauces is already of a deep red or bluish-red color
and is much inflamed, or, more yet, when the suppuration in the
tonsils has already begun. In such casas cold compresses are a
great mistake. The dark redness of the internal portion of the
throat is a sign of congestion or stasis of the blood and this would
be considerably increased through cold and the consequent con-
constriction of the bloodvessels; this might even lead to oedema.
When the throat has a cyanotic appearance, only stimulative
compresses are allowable, or, better yet, hot compresses; but
the latter kind should only be used until the symptoms have
been slightly alleviated and then they should be followed with
stimulative compresses. Hot compresses should especially be
used during the suppuration of the tonsils. Through stimu-
lative and hot compresses, the circulation again becomes free
and the congestion is removed. To this is added the fact that
raising the temperature of the skin by means of hot and
stimulative compresses will at the same time be attended with a
lowering of the temperature in the subjacent portions, in this case
in the fauces.
From what has been adduced, we may conclude that, as a rule,
it is best not to apply cold compresses, unless we are sure that
they are called for. It is best from the first to start with stimu-
lative compresses which cannot do any harm. x\s to hot com-
presses, it is yet to be mentioned that frequently, even where they
seem to be indicated, they are not attended with good effects;
thus headache is frequently aggravated thereby. In such a case
they should be only be used occasionally, using as a rule the
stimulative compresses.
Quick Cure of an Affection of the Heart. 319
In comparing the use of the compresses with homoeopathic
remedies, we should say that cold compresses should only, be
used when Aconitum is suitable; but if the inflammation has
reached the stage of Belladonna, Mercurius, Arsenicum, Nitric
acid, etc., only stimulative or hot compresses should be used.
QUICK CURE OF AN AFFECTION OF THE HEART.
By Dr. Goullon.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn., May, 1901.
Mr. R., an army officer, thick set, vigorous and of firm build,
almost of apoplectic habit of body, has been suffering for some
time from a quite peculiar heart affection, which is very depress-
ing, as it comes unexpected and mostly while walking (during
motion). It is not a. pain, properly speaking; the patient calls it
a pinching or squeezing in a certain place. An examination
showed no organic disease (of the valves), but a weak throb of
the heart.
Only those who have had an affection directly or indirectly
connected with the heart can comprehend how disquieting such
an attack is. The patient feels himself delivered up to it, as it
were, bound hand and foot. If there is a double throb of the
muscle of the heart connected with it, this distressing condition is
rightly compared with the sensation of touching the pupil of the
eye with the finger. The analogy is striking. In our patient
there was, besides this, a certain plethora abdominalis , and this,
indeed, in connection with the symptoms, led me to the right
remedy. Among the symptoms there was a certain uneasiness of
the stomach. ''The stomach," so the patient declared, "has
always been a sore point with me." He also formerly frequently
had bleeding from the nose.
My diagnose was : Neurosis of the heart, and after mature
deliberation I decided on Aurum, though also other remedies,
such as Nux, Spigelia, Natrum mur., Sulphur, etc., were con-
sidered. So I gave him Aurum met. 5 C , three drops in sugar
of milk, to be dissolved in 50 grammes of water; every morning
and evening two teaspoonfuls were to be taken.
The result was quite remarkable. The patient wrote to me :
" On Sunday, December 22d, I had the honor of consulting
you about an ailment which you designated as neurosis of the
320 Serum Therapy.
heart. Xext evening when going to bed I felt as if in a vein
near the heart, where the pinching pain had hitherto been felt,
something rolled away. From that time I felt no more pain,
which yet had before that been felt several times every day in
the region of the heart. The action of the bowels is satisfactory,
so that no additional measures were necessary; nor have I, indeed,
anything more to complaim of as to my health."
SERUM THERAPY.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Mediz. Monatsh. f.
Horn., January, 1901.
Antitoxin. In the Wiener Medicinische Presse (Xo. 8, p. 311)
we read the vaunting words: " Since the general introduction of
antitoxin the mortality from diphtheria in Paris has diminished
(from 1S80-1S95) by two-thirds." Prof. Rosenbach, the genial
and celebrated champion of scientific physiatry, picks the com-
putations of the medical statisticians to pieces and shows the
principles according to which scientific therapeutic statistics
should be calculated so as to receive correct and useful results.
The shameless arbitrariness with which the fanatics and en-
thusiasts of serum therapy claim such striking numerical results
as the effects of this therapy cannot be too sharpl}' reprimanded,
and it is sad that men who have the scientific qualifications and
the courage for such a task cannot get a hearing among the ordi-
nary crowd of physicians.
The New Plague Scrum. The Belgian government sent two
physicians, van Ermengen and Voituron to Glasgow to study
cases of plague there. They were specially requested to test
the plague serum of Dr. Meltschikow, of the Pasteur Institute is
Paris. At the advice of this learned man both of these doctors
received injections of this serum. They visited the infected
quarters and observed numerous cases of the plague; but no re-
ports could be rendered for the present as both these physicians
are grievously sick from the injection of the plague serum. Xo
comments needed !
The excision of the spleen is an operation which is becom-
ing more frequent of late. It is done mostly when the spleen has
suffered lesion through sharp instruments, causing a disruption of
the organ and thence an extensive haemorrhage in the abdominal
Acute Poisoning From Cocaine. 321
cavity. Such a case which may also serve as a warning to others
is communicated by Dr. Krabbel, of Aix-la-Chapelle, in the
Deutsche Med. Wochenschr :
"A healthy boy, nine-and-a-half years old, was sliding down
the banisters, as many children do. In doing so he fell down
half a story and stru:k with his body on one of the steps. The
physician that was called diagnosed an internal injury, and caused
the boy to be taken to the hospital. Here an operation was at
once undertaken; the abdomen was opened and it was found that
the spleen was torn into several pieces. The whole organ was
excised. The boy made a good recovery and is now perfectly
well."
ACUTE POISONING FROM COCAINE.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.>
March 28, 1901.
A tall, vigorous and well-built farmer of forty-four years had
been suffering violent pains for three weeks; these pains radiate
from the right hip-joint to the knee-joint and into the outer side
of the foot, incapacitating him for work and depriving him of
sleep. They were excited by the least motion, and even while
resting they were felt in the tuber ischii. All attempts at reliev-
ing him hitherto had been in vain. An examination showed a
typical ischias dextra.
To give the patient a speedy relief, Dr. Bergmann gave him an
injection of Cocaine in the right buttock, and caused the point of
injector to enter deeply so as to touch the nervous ischiadicus.
He used 1 c. cm. of a freshly prepared 5 per cent, solution of
Cocaine (0.05 Cocai?ie) . The result was striking. In five minutes
the patient had not the least trace of pains left, so that he could
walk home briskly, while he had scarcely been able to limp into
the office. On the following day the author visited the patient,
who was just returning home from heavy farm work and was
again seized with violent pains in the calf of the leg. He received
an injection of 0.03 Cocaine in the upper part of the calf, applied
in a direction toward the nervous peronaeus. About five minutes
afterwards the patient felt faint, things became black before his eyesy
violent palpitation of the heart set in; the pulse was tense, full, up
to 120 beats, the respiration was panting (32 R. )/ the sensoriuni
was somewhat dulled, formication and numbness in the hands and
feet. After ten minutes, cloyiic spasms in both the upper extremi-
322 The Evolution of a Homoeopath.
ties a?id in the left lower limb appeared, the right limb lay there
without any motion; the face was flushed, the pupils dilated to the
utmost, the corneal reflex was extinct, the bulbi protruded forward ',
and were then again retracted; the sensorium only somewhat clear
for a moment or two.
After applying cold water compresses to the heart and the head,
and administering some strong black coffee, the patient felt con-
siderably better in half an hour. There was no more pain in the
calf, while the spot injected showed insensibility; there was some
heaviness in the head, otherwise he felt well. In an hour the
man could leave his bed, and remained well; the pains did not
return again.
The author has injected as much as 0.07 (!) of Cocaine at one
time, and used the remedy also internally, always without injury.
It was peculiar in this case that the patient showed no reaction at
the first injection of 0.05, while next day a much smaller dose
was followed by such threatening symptoms.
The author thinks that at the second injection he must have
struck a small vein, as might easily happen in the copious reticu-
lation of veins found in the bend of the knee and in the calf, and
that this caused the rapid absorption and full effect of the remedy
But he adds: "This will not cause us to desist from the use of
this blessed remedy, even if it should become absolutely neces-
sary to first study experimentally the conditions causing such
acute poisoning." {Muenchn. Med. IVochenschr., 1900, Xo. 12.)
Frequent cases of poisoning from Cocaine have proved satis-
factorily that Cocaine is a powerful remedy, and it is manifest
that an injection into a vein would considerably heighten its
effect. The old school for the sake of a temporary effect is un-
willing to give up such dangerous experiments. The ' ' mild
power" of Homoeopathy is still a sealed book to that school.
THE EVOLUTION OF A HOMOEOPATH.
From Medical World.
Editor Medical World: Under the above title I will en-
deavor to give the "reason for the faith within me." As this is
a matter of personal experience I must of necessity make more
frequent use of the first personal pronoun than might appear
compatible with due modesty.
In 1873 I received my degree from a homoeopathic college, and
The Evolution of a Homoeopath. 323
have ever since been engaged in the practice of medicine. Osten-
sibly during all these years I have been a homoeopath, but really
I did not begin the practice of Homoeopathy until after fifteen
years of miserable bungling, hopes and fears, getting now and
then a glimpse of the light, following for a little time the beauti-
ful ray, and then relapsing into the old-time " go-as-you-please,"
racing up and down the gamut of empiricism and seeing precious
lives go out that might have been saved had I but caught the
spirit of Hahnemann earlier in my professional life. This is not
a pleasant thought; but like St. Paul, "I did it ignorantly."
There never has been a moment of my professional life when I
was not anxious to know the truth; and I am sure that all my
readers are of that mind. We all want the truth, and if there be
a law by which we may be guided in the selection of a curative
agent in any and all curative cases, for the love of God and
humanity let's lay aside all preconceived opinions and press into
the light. That there is such a law, immutable and universal as
the law of gravity, I know from the ten thousand experiences in-
cident to many years of bedside and office practise. That which
proved a stumbling block to me is the thing that confronts many
(if not all) of my readers; the immateriality of the dose. I
remarked many times that I could not conscientiously trust the
life of a seriously sick person upon anything less than material
doses of medicine. And now I will proceed to relate as nearly as
possible the series of circumstances and experiences which have
made me all that is implied in the word " Homoeopath."
I was not born with a gold spoon in my mouth, and when I
graduated I was obliged to borrow five dollars to get out of town
with. I hung out my shingle in a little town in the northwest
corner of Ohio, and how I managed to keep soul and body together
for the first few months I do not care to relate. But I know that
I was so fearful that I would not do all possible for the few patients
who came my wa}7 that I usually called for three glasses of water,
medicated them with my homoeopathic tinctures, and caused them
to be given in half hourly or hourly alternation. I did this on
the shot gun principle, ' ' if one does not hit one of the others
will." This utterly unscientific method reaped its legitimate
fruit. I encountered failures much oftener than howling suc-
cesses, bills for current expenses crowded me until I was many
times tempted to throw my books, medicine cases and instruments
into the Maumee river and become a cowboy, or anything else
that promised a life of action. But providence ruled otherwise.
324 The Evolution of a Homoeopath.
One morning I sat in my little office, not a thing in sight so far
as business was concerned, and I had an attack of the blues of the
darkest navy type. An old gentleman appeared at the door and
inquired, " Is the doctor in?" I arose and proclaimed myself to
be that gentleman. He looked a moment at my beardless face,
towering figure of five feet six inches, one hundred and twenty
pounds avoirdupois, and then he took on that exasperatingly
quizzical look that all callow followers of Esculapius must en-
counter, and asked, "Ain't you a good deal of a boy to be a
doctor ?" I was obliged to plead guilty to the charge, but assured
him so earnestly that I would outgrow it in time if allowed the
opportunity that I believe he was more than half convinced; at
any rate he took me with him to see a babe which had been given
up to die by all the other physicians of the town. I found my
patient to be the most unpromising specimen of humanity I had
ever seen. It was a three months' old babe, emaciated to the last
possible degree, and I could see no possibility of getting any rep-
utation out of this case. I did the best I could in the way of
examination, called for the usual plurality of glasses of water and
teaspoons, set the alternation machine into motion, made a very
guarded and unpromising prognosis and left. Next morning I
called and to my surprise found matters about statu quo. I had
not expected to find him alive. For the first time it occurred to
me that there might be a fighting chance for the babe. So I sat
down by his crib and made the most careful study of his symp-
toms of which I was capable. The history of the case was this:
He was the eighth of a family of as healthy children as could be
found anywhere. No heredity was traceable on either side. He
was a beautiful, plump boy until the sixth week of his life, when
he began to scream with pain. This he continued to do until a
doctor was called in. He diagnosed colic and treated it for that
trouble. But the babe continued to scream night and day when
not under the influence of anodynes. One doctor after another
had been called, and a counsel of several of them had at last been
held, and they left the child to die within a few hours. The}' had
never determined the diagnosis; or, at least, could not agree upon
it. So I sat by the crib and studied the symptoms as I have said.
Purely objective symptoms, as a matter of course, were all that I
had to go upon, and there was but one of them that was in the
least degree prominent or peculiar. It was this: He would kick
and scream with all his puny might for a moment or two, then
The Evolution of a Homoeopath. 325
■would suddenly fall asleep. In not longer than three minute- he
would awake with a shock of pain, scream for a minute or two
again, and would as instantaneously fall asleep. I watched this
process for not less than an hour. ' ' Pains come and go
denly.'" Where these pains were located I could not discover,
and I could not conjecture what their pathologic basis might be;
but I did happen to know enough of homoeopathic materia medica
to recall the fact that the above symptom is found under but one
drug prominently, and that drug is Belladonna. I called for but
one glass of water this time, and opened my pocket case. I found
my Belladonna 3X vial empty. By some good chance which I
shall never understand I found in one of my vest pockets a bottle
of Belladonna 200th dilution. Up to this time I had never pre-
ed so high a potency, and I only did so now because I had
no lower with me, and I really did not expect to do anything that
would be of material benefit to the child. So I placed a few crops
of the water medicated with Belladonna 200th into the little suf-
ferer's mouth, and told the mother to repeat the cose as often as
it cried. That dose, gentlemen, did the business. It immedi-
ately went to sleep, slept several hours and awoke — well! You
may drop this article right now and pooh-pooh the above circum-
stance aside as a coincident if you will, gentlemen: but thousands
of experiences tell me NO! It was all in accordance with one of
the most beneficent of God's laws. The babe made a perfect and
rapid recovery, and the fortunes of your humble servent mended
wonderfully on the strength of that cure.
The marvelous demonstration of power in the potentized drug
just related could not but give me a mighty impulse in the right
direction. But one swallow does not make a summer. I did not
meet so typical a case again for a considerable time, and I relapsed
into my former slovenly habits of practise, now and then getting
but a ray of the light which should have continuously been mine
from the time of the above cure until now.
In 1877 I moved to California and practised in the mountains
of Placer county for about twelve years. During that time I did
well financially, but my experiences as a healer were not altogether
satisfactory to myself. It required a great amount of nerve to
look a two hundred pound miner in the face and hand him a one
or two dram vial of tiny pellets for the cure of acute rheumatism or
sciatica, etc. I need scarcely say that I dispensed piaster-
men ts, polypharmacy, etc . wedging in a little Homoeapathy here
326 The Evolution of a Homoeopath.
and there. While I saw now and then demonstrations of the
potentized drug to heal, nothing remarkable occurred until I was
called to attend a case of pneumonia. The patient was a boy of
ten, the upper lobe of the left lung being the seat of the attack.
I treated him as usual, alternating two or three homcepathic rem-
edies. After about nine days I pronounced him convalescent and
did not see him again for a week or more. I found him not pick-
ing up as he should have done. His appetite was good, but a
little food caused a sense of repletion which prevented him eating
more than an occasional morsel. At 4 o'clock p. m. would ensue
high fever, lasting until eight p. m. During that time he would
expectorate half a teaspoonful of pure pus. At 8 o'clock the fever
would subside, followed by a profuse perspiration. Physical ex-
amination revealed an abscess in upper lobe of left lung. Another
symptom which I should have mentioned was that he passed
urine with difficulty, cried with pain during its voidance, and it
was heavily loaded with brick dust sediment.
Allow me to remark parenthetically that a homoeopathic pre-
scription should have not less than three prominent, peculiar and
persistent symptoms to rest upon, like the legs of a stool. And
it is not necessary to add that we cannot always get them, as in
the case I first related. But in this last instance a noble trio is
present. They are:
1. Sense of repletion from eating but a morsel of food.
2. Regular exacerbation of symptoms at 4 o'clock p. m., abat-
ing at 8 o'clock p. M.
3. The urinary system as above related.
There were other concomitants, such as constipation, bor-
borygmus, etc., all found under the remedy, Lycopodium clava-
tum. The way was so plain in this case that the wayfaring man
though a fool did not need to err, and I recognized the drug in-
dicated. I gave it to him in the sixth potency, a powder every
three hours. The indications were so unmistakable that I really
anticipated instantaneous relief. But after two days upon the
above prescription I could notice no marked change, certainly
nothing for the better. The symptoms remained the same. I
stuck to my drug, but I saw that I must go higher. I had noth-
ing higher than the 6x, and no chance of getting it from the
pharmacy in less than two days. So I sat down and ran it up to
the 15X, decimal scale. You will never know, friends, what the
test of faith is until you have taken a drop of mother tincture, or
The Evolution of a Homoeopath. 327
a grain of crude substance, and run it by the centesimal scale to
the thirtieth potency. I administered the fifteenth potency of
Lycopodhim to my little patient without a scintillation of faith.
It has oozed out at my finger tips during the process of potentia-
tion, but I administered it because I did not know what better to
do. Saw him next day and there was marked improvement. All
the symptoms were present, but lessened in degree. To make a
long story short, the boy went on rapidly to complete recovery.
As a matter of course this gave me another mighty impulse in
the right direction, and I could not but recognize the fact that
there was a law of cure, beautiful and inerrant as any other of
Nature's laws. We are all aware that Lycopodhim in the crude is
a comparatively inoccuous substance, and probably the only ex-
perience most of you have had with it is limited to dusting it into
the flexures of the babes suffering with intertrigo. Why what we
cell potentiation should liberate so mighty a curative principle as
is found in potentiated Lycopodium, and thousands of other inert
substances, is something beyond the realm of reason, and we are
obliged to accept demonstrable truth, whether we can understand
the modus operandi or not.
Again I buckled into homoeopathic materia medica, determined
to be a homoeopath in deed as well as in name. I used my reper-
tories and studied my cases as closely as possible, now and then
making centre shots that elevated me to the clouds. But because
I could not all the time apply the law and get ideal results, I
began to fall off in my enthusiasm and soon was in the old ruts of
alternation and polypharmacy. And so I went on at this living
and dying rate, dissatisfied with my art, 1113- heart aching for
patients that I knew were curable if I could but find their remedy,
until the year of 1888. It was about midnight in the month of
February that I was summoned to the bedside of a lady, fifty
years of age, large and fleshy. She had been an invalid for many
years. She had been given drugs galore, and the stomach had be-
come utterly intolerant of any further drugging. Her medical
attendant had said that she could live but a few hours at longest.
I was convinced that his prognosis was not far from the truth.
Her condition was as follows:
1. She was sitting bolt upright in the center of the bed. She
could not lie Jback in the least degree on account of extreme
dyspnoea. Xor could she lean forward at all, because of enorm-
ous gaseous distension of the bowels and stomach.
328 The Evolution of a Homoeopath.
2. Heart beat like a trip hammer, so that it perceptibly jarred
the bed. Spitting great quantities of frothy blood.
3. Enormous eructations of gas, aggravated by the least morsel
of food or drink. These eructations gave no relief to the sense of
fullness and pressure.
4. Her clothing and even bedclothes were drenched with a
colliquative sweat that was cold as death.
5. Extreme thirst for cold water, taking frequent small sips.
There were other symptoms that I cannot stop to detail.
Neither was there time for an extended examination. She was
supposed to be dying and what I did must be done quickly. I
took in the above data, called for two glasses of water and alter-
nated Nux vomica 3X and Arsenicum album 3X every five minutes.
Getting no relief from these after a thorough trial I floundered
about among a number of other drugs for a couple of hours. Xot
a symptom of change for the better. I was up against it. It
really seemed to me that I was commanded to stand still and see
the glory of God. And thus I stood for a number of minutes,
hands in my breeches pockets, powerless. All at once, like a
flash of lightning, I saw the remedy. I seized my hat, called for
a lantern and umbrella, and started for my office on a run. I
snatched Hering' condensed materia medica from the shelf, and
turning to CJmichona officinalis, I found the case perfectly covered
by that remedy. I immediately returned to my patient with a
vial of the thirtieth of the drug just mentioned. No change had
occurred during my few minutes absence, and I hastened to place
a single minim of Ckincliona officinalis 30X upon her tongue.
That was not much of a thing to do, was it? But the result! I
would to God that every physician upon earth could have seen it.
About three minutes after taking that most potent drop, she threw
her hands above her head and cried out, " My God, what have
you given me?" fell back upon her pillow and immediately began
to snore. Of course, everybody in the room was alarmed and
sprang forward to help her to a sitting posture. But I stopped
them, commanded them all to leave the room but the nurse, as-
suring them that the storm was over, everything was all right,
and she would recover if not awakened from sleep. She slept
several hours, and in two weeks was walking in her garden. Not
many months later she died from organic lesions of the heart.
Such miraculous demonstrations of medicinal power are not
common in the practice of the best prescribers; but they do occur
Book Notices. 329
with sufficient frequency in the experience of him who is working
by the law to keep him in a state of expectancy, and we are very
likely to find that for which we seek. There are many reasons
why we cannot always attain to all that is desirable in the line of
cure; but I stoutly maintain that the man who recognizes the ex-
istence of a law of cure and is governed in his prescribing there-
by, will be rewarded with a uniformity of success that he never
knew before, and will see results that are absolutely impossible
under any other method. This assertion I can substantiate by
any reasonable amount of evidence, and if this too lengthy paper
be received in the spirit in which it is written, I shall be too glad
to do all I can to convince my brethern of any and all schools
that God has given His children a law of cure for the ills of the
body. This is the burden of my cry. I do not care a rap of the
gavel for the name, homoeopathy. Neither do I contend for high
potency. If a man hew close to the line, prescribe the drug in-
dicated by the symptoms, or the one capable of causing the symp-
toms found in a given case, he will learn very soon to dread said
drug in the crude, and will be only too glad to climb the potency
ladder.
So in this discussion I would be glad if we would drop the
name of my own or any other school, and let us stick to the text:
Is there a law of cure? I will close by stating, as intimated in
my note in the last number of this journal, that since the bedside
experience last related I have never doubted for a moment that
there is a beautiful law of cure, and I endeavor to apply it in all
cases coming into my hands. The past thirteen years of my pro-
fessional life have been infinitely more satisfactory than those pre-
ceding them. I am not only willing but very anxious to help
anyone into a knowledge of this truth; for I really think that the
millenium in medicine will have dawned when the medical world
shall have recognized the fact that there is a law of cure.
S. E. Chapman.
Napa, California.
BOOK NOTICES.
Regional Leaders. By E. B. Xash, M. D. Author of
"Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics," and "Leaders in
Typhoid Fever." 282 pages. Flexible leather. $1.50; by
mail, $1.57. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel. 1901.
" The best Materia Medica ever published," was the comment
made on this book by a physician the other day. Yet " Materia
33° Book Notices.
Medica " hardly covers the scope of the book, which is a com-
bination of Materia Medica, Materia Medica cards, self-quiz and
keynotes. "Regional" means that the book is divided in the
usual Homoeopathic Materia Medica style — " Mind, Head, Face,"
etc. In each of these regions will be found symptoms, "leaders."
These are given first, and on the inner margin is given the name
of the remedy. These names may be covered by the aluminum
book marker that goes with the book, and thus the student or
practitioner can quiz himself. The man who masters this book,
and the task is comparatively easy, will have a firm foundation on
which to base homoeopathic prescribing.
Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Com-
prising the characteristic and cardinal symptoms of all remedies.
By William Boericke, M. D. 572 pages. Flexible leather,
$3 00. San Francisco: Boericke & Runyon Co. 1901.
From Hering and Breyfogle, of old times, down to Fahnestock,
"A. B. C." Clark and Boericke of the current year, what a host
of "pocket" and " condensed " Materia Medicas have been is-
sued. And, unless the authors have reproved the remedies
(which they haven't) , what new can they have to say ? Yet they
are one and all useful little books, for the very life of Homoe-
opathy is its Materia Medica; for minus that it has no reason for
being, and we cannot have too much attention paid to this sub-
ject. Dr. Boericke' s book is a very handsome production, print-
ed on " bible paper " and fitted in size for the pocket.
Mental Diseases and their Modern Treatment. By Selden
Haines Talcott, A. M., M. D., Ph. D. Medical superintendent
of the Middletown State Homoeopathic Hospital. 352 pages.
Cloth, $2.59. New York: Boericke & Runyon Co 1901.
Dr. Talcott, as nearly every one knows, has been for many
years the head of one of the largest and most successful asylums
for the insane in the world. This work, based on a series of
lectures delivered by the author, embodies the results of that long
experience. It is a good book and soundly homoeopathic.
Something to be grateful for, that latter trait.
Etidorpha, or the End of the Earth. The strange history of
a mysterious being and the account of a remarkable journey.
Book Notices. 331
By John Uri Lloyd. Eleventh edition. Revised and enlarged.
375 pages. Cloth, $1.50. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.
1 90 1.
This remarkable book might be called a romance of science;
perhaps, though, it is not so much a romance as a carrying of
science to realms above the material. Listen to this from page
334: " You wrong your common sense when you place dead mat-
ter above the spirit of matter — matter is an illusion, spirit is the
reality." It is a fascinating, thought inspiring book.
The Psychic and Psychism. By A. C. Halphide, A. B., M.
D., B. D. 228 pages. Cloth, Si. 00. Author's Publishing
Co., Chicago. 1901.
The Psychic and Psychism is a systematic treatise on psy-
chic phenomena, and is simply and lucidly written. It goes over
the subject in a comprehensive way, simplifying and explaining
the principal topics of this rather mysterious subject. The work
will not fail to be helpful and interesting to any student of experi-
mental psychology.
A Textbook of the Practice of Medicine. By Dr. Herman
Eichhorst, Professor of Special Pathology and Therapeutics
and Director of the Medical Clinic in the University of Zurich.
Translated and edited by Augustus A. Eshner, M. D., Profes-
sor of Clinical Medicine in the Philadelphia Polyclinic. Two
octavo volumes of over 600 pages each; over 150 illustrations.
Philadelphia and London: \V. B. Saunders & Co. 1901. Price,
per set: Cloth, §6.00 net.
The Germans lead the world in internal medicine, and among
all German clinicians no name is more renowned than that of the
author of this work. Dr. Eichhorst stands to-day among the
most eminent authorities of the world, and his Text-Book of the
Practice of Medicine is probably the most valuable work of its
size on the subject. The book is a new one, but on its publica-
tion it sprang into immediate popularity and is now one of the
leading text-books in Germany. It is practically a condensed ed-
ition of the author's great work on Special Pathology and Thera-
peutics, and it forms not only an ideal text-book for students, but a
practical guide of unusual value to the practicing physician. As
the essential aim of the physician will always be to cure disease,
the fullest and most careful consideration has been given to treat-
ment.
Hornoeopathlc Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL,
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications, books for review, exchayiges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
Commenting on a squib in the Recorder, in turn commenting
on the assertion of an Eclectric physician that one could use the
' ' tissue remedies " ' ' without becoming a believer in the rot and
moonshine included in Schuesslerism," C, in Medical Gleaner,
June, says:
11 Very properly, he (the eclectic physician) recognizes the salts
as legitimate medicines, but he does not regard them as direct
tissue builders. If he recommends them as tissue-feeders, he is
temporarily off his base and well deserves your spanking."
"Did Hahnemann accept the sciolism underlying Schuessler-
ism? The basis of 'bio-chemistry' is such, that if it is right,
not only no other system, but no part of any other system can be
right. Seeing this, Schuessler, with perfect naturalness and con-
sistency, ruled out all of the other medical systems. Schuessler' s
system utterly excludes drugs. To him, there was no such thing
as a drug. His is a feeding system. Is homoeopathy that, or is
it partly that? Excluding dietetics — common to us all — how ca?i
it be partly that?"
" It is a lamentable fact that all schools of medicine are tainted
with the Schuessler idea. All of them, for instance, prescribe
phosphorus for neurasthenia, lime for rickets, iron for anaemia,
etc. All of them have inherited this tissue-feeding notion from
the medical past. Do the provings of these drugs justify their
use under the tissue-feeding theory?"
The theory of Schuessler is, we think, all wrong, yet the rem-
edies, as he prescribed them, are of great value — of value, not be-
cause of this ' ' tissue feeding ' ' power, but because they are
homoeopathic to the conditions for which he prescribes them.
Editorial. 333
That the homoeopathic law is operative in the so-called biochemic
treatment is pretty plainly shown in the two remedies, Natrum
muf. and Silicea, both of which were proved by Hahnemann,
and the indications given for them by Schuessler are the ones
accepted by homoeopaths ever since the days of Hahnemann.
What is true of these is probably true of the others. They all
come under the Law.
Dr. Thos. S. Bowles, of Harrison, O., relates a rather inter-
esting case in the June Eclectic Medical Journal. It was a case of
dropsy in a woman of about 50 years of age. Her feet and ankles
were slightly swollen when she had a stroke of paralysis. After
this, and during the next four months, her limbs swelled enor-
mously; in fact, the whole body was involved; heart action weak.
At third month lower limbs ruptured. All doctors who saw the
case thought it hopeless, but under a mixture of one ounce of
Crataegus ox., with a drachm of Convalaria, 20 drop doses every
four hours, patient recovered and is now doing her own house
work. Cratcegus alone did not seem to do any good.
NASH'S NEW BOOK, REGIONAL LEADERS.
Cincinnati, July 6, 1901.
Messrs. Boericke and Tafel, Philadelphia.
Dear Sirs: — I wish to thank you for the copy of Nash's Re-
gional Leaders. The publication of this adds another book of the
proper type to our Materia Medica armamentarium.
Nash certainly has the faculty of picking out the keynote
symptoms of remedies, and at the same time knows just how to
put them into succinct but comprehensive language.
I heartily recommend this little book to students of Homoeo-
pathic Materia Medica.
Yours truly,
S. R. Geiser, M. D.
Prof. Materia Medica, Pulte Medical College.
"I was reminded the other day, by reading in some of our
journals, of my promise to report further on the case of cancer of
the face and malar bone, that I was treating with " E * echinacea"
with very satisfactory results. I have only to say of the case, I
334 Editorial.
have not seen the man nor heard of him since the report. How-
ever, notwithstanding the favorable progress he was making,
think he has dropped out of sight, or into a cancer specialist's
office. But, from the experience I have had in other cases I have
adopted it — Ecchinacea — as one of the remedies to be used with
benefit in such malignant cases." — A. B. Woodward, M. D., in
Medical Brief.
We welcome the new homoeopathic journal, Le Medicine Ho-
moeopathic, edited by Dr. Lardinois, 112 Boulevard du Xord,
Brussels, Belgium. It is a protest against the alleged decadence
of Homoeopathy in Belgium.
Dr. H. H. Curtis (Medical Record) says that the tincture of
Ambrosia artemisiafolio in from two to ten drops will prevent hay
fever, or relieve it when the disease has developed. Dr. C. F.
Millspaugh said the same thing thirteen years ago. See New,
Old a?id Forgotteii Remedies.
In his interesting paper read before American Institute of Ho-
moeopathy on June 20th, and reprinted in the Medical Century of
July, on "Cancer," Dr. H. F. Bigger said: "Dr. J. Compton
Burnett's book on Tumours should be read by every physician."
It may be said of Burnett that he believed there were no incurable
diseases. His books are records of the wonders that may be done
with medicine in the hands of a man who knows medicine. They
are all of great value.
DIATHESIC HOMOEOPATHY.
From Homoeopathic World.
We are indebted to our contemporary, the Homoeopathic Re-
corder, for an article by Dr. Mau, further exemplifying the
action of Tuberculin. The Recorder, which is conducted and
published by Messrs. Boericke & Tafel, performs an unique service
among homoeopathic journals in familiarizing English readers who
are not also German readers with the best work of modern Ger-
man Homoeopathy. Dr. Mau's work, like that of Dr. Nebel, is
on the lines of what may be termed the diathesic Homoeopathy
first clearly enunciated by Burnett in his New Cure of Consump-
Editorial. 335
Hon, and the cases Dr. Mau relates show what a living force
Burnett is in modern Homoeopathy.
When Burnett made the splendid generalization that the virus
of phthisis was available for therapeutic purposes, not only in
cases of actual lung affections, but also in conditions arising out
of a phthisical tendency, inherited or not — for " consumptive-
ness, ' ' as he termed it — it was not likely that his genius would
let him stop there. Nor did it. Throughout his later works the
key to many of his prescriptions will be found in the knowledge
of the underlying principle of this diathesic homoeopathy.
Once apprehended, the application of the principle is not diffi-
cult. Moreover, it simplifies the work of prescribing to a most
desirable extent. Not that it in any way abrogates the cardinal
necessity of finding the exact correspondence; but, by revealing
the most vital factor in a case, it will often save the prescriber
much time and trouble in hunting up symptoms, by at once in-
dicating a remedy which covers the most important part of the
ground.
In order to achieve success in the use of diathesic remedies —
which are not necessarily always nosodes — the art of diagnosing
diatheses must be cultivated. Carefully taken family histories
will be the best guide; but those who keep their eyes open for
causes will often be able, from the symptoms themselves, to spell
out the diathesis they arise from.
Hahnemann's three miasms — psora, syphilis, and sycosis — have
been clearly depicted by his master hand; but they do not by any
means exhaust the subject; they do little more than open it up.
The cancerous diathesis is not covered by any one or by all of
these; it can be met by its own nosodes. Many have written on
the precancerous stage in cancer, and none in a more practical
way than Dr. Arthur Clifton. It is not necessary to wait until
actual new growths have formed before beginning to treat a per-
son of cancerous antecedents for the purpose of curing his dia-
thesis. Burnett taught that "consumptives" can be cured, and
showed how the cure might be accomplished. In his work on
Tumours he has shown how cancers and other tumors may be
cured; but he did much more important work than this in treat-
ing persons of cancerous habit.
This is one of the lines on which Homoeopathy is capable of
great development; and it is by development on such lines as these
that Homoeopathy will most signally manifest its superiority over
anything that allopathy can accomplish.
PERSONALS.
The long-haired seem to have left Kansas for Minnesota, where it now
costs a man $50 to smoke a cigarette — if the law is enforced.
Tom Johnson, the famous Mayor of Cleveland, comes out fiat-footed
against vaccination, and the orthodox wail exceedingly.
Michigan Solons smoke stogies and chew plug, and vote it criminal to
sell, or smoke, cigarettes.
When every reformer will learn to mind his own business and let his
neighbor's alone, the old world will fairly hum along the reform track.
Serums are running up and down the scale before quiet supervenes. The
latest proposed is immunity against spermatozoa.
Hanley deprecates the substitution of the mosquito-net for quinine. —
Jour. Trop. Med.
One doctor says that the virtue of antitoxin lies in the carbolic acid; an-
other, that it is in the cessation of local treatment; another, that it is in ad-
vertising; another that it is the grandest Triumph of Medicine. You pay
your money.
Fifteen persons volunteered the mosquito-yellow-fever test; all survived;
the effects were " mild."
In Texas the oil-shooter is now more popular than the six-shooter.
" Why we grow old ? " One reason is, 'cause we can't help it.
A case of small-pox in New Martinsville, W. Va., turned out to be merely
the effect of vaccination.
At be-nighted Sherman, Tenn., the citizens got out their Winchesters and
the vaccinating doctor left.
The Southern Homoeopathic Medical College, Baltimore, will have a fine
new and modern building by October 1st. The report for the past year
augurs well for the future.
After the baby arrives look out for squalls.
" Malaria " should be changed to " culexitis."
Diogenes' enemies want to know where he got that lantern when he put
up that bluff of searching for an honest man.
President Gilman talks of the " debilitating effects of literature." Let us
be thankful that it is so rare, then.
When things get hot the scum rises.
Unless natural to you don't try to be a kicker.
Dr. Nash's new book, Regional Leaders, is another success.
The Million Dollar President trys a bluff on Echinacea, but page 694,
Transactions, A. I. H., 1S99, ought to satisfy even him. But what are facts
to him !
THE
HOMCEOPATHIC RECORDER.
Vol XVI. Lancaster, Pa. AUGUST, 1901. No. 8
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Fifteenth Annual Session.
The American Institute of Homoeopathy held its fifteenth
annual session in Brooklyn, X. Y., in the Atheneum, beginning
Wednesday, June 2, 1858, at ten o'clock a. m., and was called to
order by the General Secretary D. S. Smith, M. D., of Wauke-
gan, 111. The roll of members this year embraced three hundred
and eighty names.
D. S. Smith, M. D., of Waukegan, 111., was elected President;
Wm. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., General Secretary; E. T.
Richardson, M. D., of Brooklyn, X. Y., Provisional Secretary;
Samuel S. Guy, M. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., Treasurer.
The Board of Censors were:
Chas. F. Manchester, M. D., Pawtucket, R. I.; Benj. F. Joslin,
M. D., New York, N. Y.; Robert Rosman, M. D., Brooklyn, X.
Y.j Eliphalet Clark, M. D., Portland, Me., and L. B. Wells, M.
D., Utica, N. Y.
Auditors of Treasurer's accounts appointed by the Chairman
were:
F. R. McManus, M. D., Baltimore, Md.; John D. Moore, M.
D., Burlington, X. J.; AlpheUs Morrill, M. D., Concord, X. H.;
X. H. Warner, M. D., Buffalo, X. Y., and Lyman Clary, M. D.,
Syracuse, X. Y.
Committee on Scientific Subjects was:
J. P. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; Edward Bayard, M. D.,
Xew York, X. Y., and Wm. A. Reed, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.
J. P. Dake, M. D., of the Committee on " Water as a Thera-
338 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
peutic Agent," and C. M. Dake, M. D., Committee on " Anaes-
thetic Agents, Their Use and Abuse," were both continued until
the next annual session, neither being ready with full reports,
Dr. C. M. Dake having been deterred by ill health.
A. R. Bartlett, M. D., Aurora, 111., Committee on "Intermit-
tent Fevers," made a report, which was held for further discus-
sion, owing to the importance of the subject.
Geo. E. Shipman, M. D., Chicago, 111., Committee on "Para-
sites in Connection with Disease," was not present, but reported
progress, and was continued.
Win. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., presented his report on
" The Alternation of Remedies in Homoeopathic Practice," which
was laid on the table for future consideration.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., Chairman of the Central Bureau, pre-
sented a proving of Rumex crispus ; and Wm. E. Payne, M. D.,
of the Bureau, gave a less elaborate proving of the same drug, and
a full proving of Calcarea phosphoiica. Both reports were pub-
lished.
P. P. Wells, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y., Committee on the
"Attenuation of Medicines," being absent in Europe, without
making either report or excuse, was discharged from the subject.
A. E. Small, M. D., Chicago, 111., Committee on the ''Influ-
ence of Geological Formations in Disease," was also discharged,
having made no report.
John Ellis, M. D., of Detroit, Mich., sent his report on '' Scale
of Preparations of Homoeopathic Attenuations," which was read
by the Secretary and laid on the table for future discussion.
D. M. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa., Committee on " Evacuants
and their Physiological and Therapeutic Relations to the Human
Economy," forwarded his report, which was read by Dr. J. P.
Dake, accepted and laid on the table for future disposal.
I. M. Ward, M. D., Newark, N. J., Committee on " Mechanical
Support in the Treatment of Disease," presented no report, but
desired to be continued, which request was granted.
Walter Williamson, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa., Committee on
"Puerperal Fever," being absent and giving neither report nor
excuse, was discharged.
E. A. Guilbert, M. D., Dubuque, Iowa, Committee on "Chest
Diseases, Their Diagnosis and Treatment," reported progress
through Dr. Smith, and was continued.
S. M. Cate, M. D., Augusta, Me., Committee on "Scarlet Fever,
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 339
Its Prophylaxis and Treatment." was not present, but had sent,
by mail, an extensive report, which was published,
G. W. Swazey, M. D., Springfield, Mass., Committee on
" Medical Dynamics," was not present, but was continued until
next meeting.
Richard Gardiner, M. D., Philadelphia, Committee on " Small-
pox and Kindred Pustular Diseases," read a very valuable report,
which was accepted and printed. Dr. Donovan inquired what
means Dr. Gardiner had used to prevent pitting, to which he re-
plied that he had employed both Causticum and Merciirius cor-
rosivus with agreeable success.
At eight o'clock in the evening a large audience met in the hall
of the Atheneum to listen to Prof. J. P. Dake's address. His
subject was " Charity in Medicine," which he handled in his
usual graceful and interesting manner, receiving the hearty
plaudits of his intelligent audience.
Dr. Dake commenced his discourse by mentioning how men of
different mental attributes form contradictory conclusions relating
to one subject. This truth, he said, should have prevented the
shadows of persecution from marring the pages of history, and
should now prevent all kinds of bigotry.
He thought that as children of one common parent, endowed
with equal rights, yet all liable to err, even when in the pursuit
of that which they think right, each should extend to the other
that charity which " suftereth long and is kind," and this should
continue until all uncertainty of thinking and believing is merged
in the positive " I know." He did not require that men should
fold their hands contented with the great accomplishments of the
past, nor did he say that they should yield unconditionally to the
opinions of the great men of the times, as if it were wrong to seek
for improvement; or if thinking minds have deduced facts, from
their careful investigation of subjects, would he ask them to
abandon the principles so established. He said: '' It is a charity
that, springing from a realization of the natural and educational
diversities of men, and from a view of the improvements made
upon the works of one generation by the succeeding, causes us to
acknowledge the possibility of future discoveries and improve-
ments, than we, in our generation, have been able to make."
This liberality, seldom found among medical people, was still
more conspicuously absent in those who have opposed the prog-
ress of Homoeopathy. Hahnemann was once acknowledged to be
34-0 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
a wise physician, an excellent chemist, a very learned man, but
when he endeavored to establish a general law of cure and to con-
struct a strict principle in the system of practice he was denounced
as a visionary fool, and the fiercest blasts of calumny were thrown
out to divest him of his fame. Hahnemann was uncommonly
moderate in temper, and seldom noticed the shafts of malice
hurled at him; but once in a while his great heart grew sore at
the base injustice, and when he undertook to resent it the scath-
ing lightning of his words was surely not in vain. Dr. Dake said
that the men of the present time, and particularly those who grew
up in this free country, could not realize the trials and adverse
circumstances accompanying the birth and progress of the yet
infant art of Homoeopathy. Every means that jealousy could
devise and hatred foster were employed to prevent the spread of
medical science as developed and practiced by Hahnemann, and
when all else failed the law was called into play and he was com-
pelled to leave Leipsic, the place of his former triumphs and tem-
porary defeat. What was it to him that thirty years afterward
Leipsic did him particular honor in statue and public demonstra-
tion ? He had then passed to that other country from whence he
could not return to receive the belated justice.
Hufeland, of Germany, and Forbes, of England, were the onty
two who showed any charity whatever in their opposition to
Hahnemann. Hufeland in particular was very just, and he gave
to the world his unbiased opinion of the man whom he honored
for his writings and the practice of his medical art prior to his
discovery. For this simple act of justice and honor to a friend
Hufeland was pronounced a convert to the new medical faith and
treated accordingly. In his own defense Hufeland stated that he
at first stood revealed in his position toward the new system be-
cause he thought it wrong to treat the new doctrine with con-
tempt and ridicule. Then he felt that he must lend a helping
hand to one so persecuted, and he deemed it only right to listen,
at least, to the principles propounded by Hahnemann and testified
to by such scientists as President Von Wolf, of Warsaw; Medical
Councillor Rau, of Giessen, and Medical Councillor Windemann,
of Munich. He said afterward he had seen cases treated success-
fully by Hahnemann's system, and this compelled careful inves-
tigation. Added to this, the noble German stood by his principles
which were in medical art, " Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good; these were and must ever be the first command-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 341
ments in all sciences, and in the medical practice especially."
Thus he rose above prejudices of early education, above the fetters
of pride and the fear of scoffers, and stood a superior example of
what a physician should be. He never fully embraced Homoe-
opathy, but he defended its right to be heard, and treated it and
its adherents as a gentleman and a scholar would do.
Sir John Forbes was twenty years afterward a venturesome de-
fender of Hahnemann. He, as Hufeland, appeared first in an
essay. Forbes took for his subject "Homoeopathy, Allopathy
and Young Physic." In this the writer dared to say that Hahne-
mann was a genius and a scholar. That his name would un-
doubtedly appear in medical history among those of the greatest
theorists and systematists. His views were original and ingenious,
and he surpassed most by substantiating and carrying out his doc-
trine into actual and extensive practice. He was also firm in his
belief and strict in following his doctrine. He also said that there
were undoubtedly charlatans and imposters among homoeopaths,
but they were also to be found among orthodox practitioners.
This essay was met by a storm of fury. Forbes was branded
as a vandal and a sorcerer until " Forbes is crazy, Forbes is
mad !" echoed across the Atlantic.
Dr. Dake said he only exercised the charity for which he was
pleading when he spoke without harshness for those who attacked
Dr. Forbes. They had been taught that Hahnemann was either
a madman or a fool, while they deemed Sir John one of the wisest
followers and teachers of the orthodox system of medicine.
When he expressed himself in any way favorable to Hahnemann
it is hardly strange that they thought him crazy, but Dr. Dake
left those, who would stamp Sir John Forbes and his works into
blackest oblivion rather than acknowledge that there was any truth
in Homoeopathy, to the mercy of Him who could pardon sin.
He said that twelve long years had passed since any manly
tribute had been paid to Hahnemann from orthodox pen in
orthodox journal. Opposition was, if anything, stronger, and
any practitioners who forsook the beaten track of medical practice
were actually expelled from societies and colleges. He said,
the recreant fellows could already laugh from better quarters
as they sung "Banished! What's banished but set free from
the daily contact of things I loathe ? ' '
Dr. Dake then reviewed the opposition that Homoeopathy
received in the United States, saying that among those who had
342 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
written or spoken against it there were none like Hufeland or
Forbes, the style being neither dignified nor convincing, and the
attacks illiberal and extremely unjust. For example in a certain
medical journal the word Homoeopathy is defined: "A fanciful
doctrine, which maintains that disordered actions in the human
body are to be cured by inducing other disordered actions of the
same kind; and this to be accomplished by infinitesimally small
doses. " Here the mind is immediatelly prejudiced by this epithet
11 fanciful." Still further, when an old school physician hears or
knows of cures performed by homoeopathic treatment he ridicules
the " sugar pills," and pretends that the patients are looking thin
and badly, or he laughs at the temporary improvement and pre-
dicts worse maladies to follow. The cures have been so clearly
demonstrated that it were worse than folly to try to repudiate
them. Yet some opinionated doctor delights in smiling com-
plaisantly and saying that he remarked long ago that there was
too much medicine used, and that in the case in point most likely
the patient would have recovered with no treatment whatever.
Another tells a recovered dyspeptic that no doubt the diet as
regulated had perfected the cure instead of the medicine pre-
scribed. At one time they smile benignly, and say that homoeo-
pathic medicines are harmless sugar pills; at another they say
that they are concentrated deadly poison. One says with gusto
how many bottles of pellets he has swallowed with no results
whatever, another asserts that a very few pills killed a man in a
distant city. It is good to-day for women and children, to-morrow
it is fit for nothing. The doctrines of Hahnemann are Spiritualism,
sometimes Materialism; they are Infidelity, and anon Pantheism.
Sometimes the enemies of Homoeopathy graciously express their
willingness to let it have its day, that it may, like all humbugs,
explode itself; and again they demand law makers and coroner's
juries to place their ban upon it. They say that they notice that
the practice is rapidly declining, and almost with the same breath
demand that something be done to check the alarming progress
of its quackery. They almost demand a faithful demonstration
of its results, and shout against its trial in the same hospital with
the old practice. Dr. Dake then said that he would drop the
mantle of charity over these evidences of depravity and human
frailty, and turn to the faults to be found among the new school
practitioners. He siid that the difference in education and
capacity made diverse opinions and sometimes contentions,
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 343
whereas there should be harmony in the labor of advancing the
doctrine, and personal matters should be determinedly kept in the
background. The law of Hahnemann should bind all together.
He believed that a system of therapeutics founded on Hahne-
mann's doctrine would supersede all other modes of curing dis-
ease. Obedience to this law would establish a system of medicine
as strong and immutable as Newton's system of gravitation. He
described the antipathic, allopathic, and homoeopathic methods of
cure taking, as an example, the application of remedies by each
and their varied results. Then he showed how the new school
acted only upon diseased parts with consistent remedies and
obtained no after affliction. He declared that all who prescribed
the remedies for each disease by the law, laid down by the teacher
Hahnemannn, could not go far outside the brotherhood. Each
remedy must be proven upon healthy human organisms; it must
be thoroughly tested and carefuly applied. Different physicians
might have as many different modes of testing; but the results
being the same, the whole fraternity should look with charity upon
personal peculiarities in methods, and particularly with regard to
the size of the doses. The one who uses a true homoeopathic
medicine in the 3d, 6th, or 10th is as much to be respected as he
who uses the 30th, and the 200th is no more a homoeopath than
the others. Neither need there be division because there may be
difference of opinion with regard to diet. There has not been
quite enough experience to make a positive rule for the dose or
the diet, but prescribed in purely homoeopathic law there can be
no disastrous blundering.
Dr. Dake particularly recommended charity for those who work
faithfully, though they may have mistaken glittering sand for
gold in their researches. In fact, he asked for the blessed virtue
to be extended to all who were seeking for truth in the beloved
science to which they were devoted. They were all striving for
a common object, a holy object, not easily obtained, and the only
way to accomplish that end was to keep in close fellowship and
confide in each other, being willing to exchange views and re-
count experiences with the one view of perfecting the true med-
ical art of Homoeopathy.
Following Dr. Dake's address, Dr. Ward, of Newark, N. J.,
spoke upon the "Rise and Progress of Homoeopathy in this
Country," which also received pleasant appreciation.
The members of the Institute were then invited to a sumptuous
344 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
repast, prepared by the homoeopathic physicians of Brooklyn,
and were welcomed by Dr. Dinsmore. E. W. Dunham,
Esq., President of the Corn Exchange Bank of New York
City, was called to preside, and the Rev. Dr. Farley asked
the blessing. Music, sentiment and response followed, the re-
sponses being desired of gentlemen residents of Brooklyn and
outside the pale of the profession. The first toast offered was
"The Healing Art — Once Empirical, Now Scientific," and was
responded to by Mr. J. N. Bulkley. The second toast, "The
Memory of Hahnemann," was followed by a dirge by the band.
The third was the "Principles of Homoeopathy; resting upon
that sure foundation, Similia Similibus Curanter, they can
neither be subverted or overthrown." This was responded to by
the Rev. Dr. Farley, and followed by music by a quintette of
ladies and gentlemen. The fourth toast was sent in by the Rev.
Eldred S. Porter, and was "The American Institute of Homoe-
opathy; may it triturate opposing errors into nothing and furnish
a Wright for every medical wrong." This was responded to by
S. S. Guy, M. D., and was followed by music.
The fifth toast, " The Clergy — We look to them to be foremost
in all true reforms," was followed by singing by a trio of gen-
tlemen.
The sixth toast, ' ' The Bar — The Conservator of our legal
rights," was responded to in an agreeable manner by C. R.
Huntley, Esq., who showed that the "Bar" could bleed and
blister as well as the medical faculty.
The seventh toast, " The Press — The tongue of the world; may
it never be silenced," was responded to by Mr. Theodore Tilton,
of The Independe?it, who made a few rather witty remarks. A
duet followed sung by young ladies.
Mr. Dunham, in giving the eighth toast, said that the
"sweetest morsel came last." It was "Woman, The Heart of
Humanity," answered by Prof. J. P. Dake, and followed by
music and adjournment.
On Thursday morning the meeting was called to order at ten
o'clock, and after reading the minutes all business was postponed
to listen to a paper by B. F. Joslin, M. D., on " Impurities of an
Attenuating Liquid," which was laid on the table for further dis-
cussion.
Pending the discussion on Dr. Bartlett's report on "Intermit-
tent Fever," the Central Bureau was appointed consisting of —
American Institiite of Homoeopathy. 345
B. F. Joslin, M. D., New York, N. Y.; Wm. E. Payne, M. D.,
Bath, Me.; M. J. Rhees, M. D., Mount Holly, N. J.; Edward
Bayard, M. D., New York, N. Y.; and C. J. Hempel, M. D.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
The discussion of the subject was then entered into by B. F.
Bowers, M. D., of New York; C. J. Hempel, M. D., of Phila-
delphia; T. W. Donovan, M. D., of Staten Island, N. Y.; Wm.
H. Watson, M. D., of Utica, N. Y.; N. H. Warner, M. D., of
Buffalo, N. Y.; I. M. Ward, M. D., of Newark, N. J.; Lyman
Clary, M. D., Syracuse, N. Y.; J. P. Dake, M. D., of Pittsburg,
Pa., and F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, Md.
This discussion, far too voluminous to report in this article,
was carried on in an elaborate and thoroughly honest and pro-
fessional manner by all engaged, and the courtesy of one to an-
other was most remarkable in the inquiries elicited respecting the
selections of medicines and the reasons for their use, and particu-
larly in the difference of opinion expressed regarding them. The
discussion occupied all of that morning session. In the afternoon
the Institute, on motion made by Dr. McManus, decided to hold
its next annual meeting in Boston, on the first Wednesday in
June, 1859.
The last annual report of the American Provers' Union, to-
gether with the Constitution and By-Laws were received, and all
filed.
The Chicago Homoeopathic Society presented its proceedings of
the last year, which evinced a worthy and faithful amount of
energetic industry, an example to some other societies in the
country. With it was the second annual report of the Illinois
Homoeopathic Medical Association, both of which were placed on
file.
A report was received from the New Hampshire Homoeopathic
Medical Society, together with Constitution and By-Laws. Placed
on file.
A communication from Dr. Ludlam, of Chicago, on the " En-
demics of Illinois and the Northwest," was read by the Secretary
and referred to the Committee on Publication. Dr. Gallupe, of
Bangor, Me., sent a communication regarding the treatment of
two cases of Epilepsy, which was read and referred to the Com-
mittee on Printing.
On motion of Dr. Clary, Dr. A. S. Ball was paid the sum of
346 American Institute of Homoeopathy,
fifty dollars, being the balance of his claim upon the Institute for
loan.
Dr. McManus reported the Treasurer's account correct, and all
debts were ordered to be paid.
J. P. Dake, M. D., Chairman of the Committee on the Selection
of Subjects, reported as follows:
C. M. Dake, M. D., Geneseo, N. Y., "Anaesthetic Agents,
Their Use and Abuse."
J. P. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa., "Water as a Therapeutic
Agent."
I. M. Ward, M. D., Newark, N. J., " Mechanical Supports in
the Treatment of Disease."
G. E. Shipman, M. D., Chicago, 111., "Parasites in Connec-
tion with Disease."
E. A. Guilbert, M. D., Dubuque, Iowa, "Chest Diseases,
Their Diagnosis and Treatment."
G. W. Swazey, M. D., Springfield, Mass., "Medical Dynam-
ics."
B. F. Joslin, M. D., New York, N. Y., and D. M. Dake, M.
D., Pittsburg, Pa., " Combinations of Potencies."
T. W. Donovan, M. D., Staten Island, N. Y., "Intermittent
Fevers. ' '
N. H. Warner, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y., " Influence of Bi-car-
bonate of Potassa, Tartrate of Potassa, and Carbonate of Soda in
Articles of Diet."
W. H. Watson, M. D., Utica, N. Y., " Phthisis Pulmonalis."
T. W. Donovan, M. D., Staten Island, N. Y., "Diabetes."
John L. Sullivan, M. D., of New York, made a communication
containing a plan for the establishment of a " Homoeopathic
Hotel," which was placed on file.
A letter was received from Isaac James, M. D., of Bustleton ,
asking to be released from the payment of dues, on account of
advanced age and retirement from practice, which request was
granted.
F. R. McManus, M. D., asked for the report of the Committee
on Diplomas; there being no answer the Committee was dis-
charged.
Another Committee was appointed to report at the next annual
meeting, and after considerable discussion it was agreed that the
Committee should decide whether the diploma should be printed
in English or Latin. The Treasurer mentioned that some mem-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 347
bers were in arrears, and that the publication of the proceedings
must be abandoned if they did not pay. In pursuance of this Dr.
McManus made a resolution, which passed, " That the name of
every member who shall not have paid his annual dues of one
dollar by the first of September, proximo, shall be published in
the proceedings of the present session, with the amount of their
indebtedness; and that a copy of this resolution be forwarded im-
mediately by the Treasurer to each delinquent member."
On motion of Dr. McManus, the Institute voted unanimously
to print Dr. Warner's report on " Cholera " in the proceedings of
this session, which by some careless oversight had not been pub-
lished in the proceedings of the previous session.
On motion of Dr. Dake reports of Dr. Bartlett on " Intermittent
Fever;" Dr. Payne on the "Alternation of Remedies;" Dr. Ellis
on the "Scale for Preparing Homoeopathic Remedies;" Dr. D.
M. Dake on " Evacuants;" and on motion of Dr. Payne, the re-
port of Dr. Joslin on the ' ' Effects of Impurities in Attenuating
Liquids" were all ordered to be taken from the table and printed
in the proceedings.
E. Clark, M. D., of Portland, Me., offered this resolution,
which was adopted: "That all papers received by the Institute,
which are ordered to be placed on file, be referred to the Perma-
nent Secretary, to be used as he may think proper, in making his
report of the proceedings of the annual meetings."
F. R. Moore, M. D., of Pittsburg, who had been expelled, sent
a letter asking the Institute to re-consider its action regarding
him. After much discussion, Dr. Lyman Clary, of Syracuse, N.
Y.; Dr. Manchester, of Pawtucket, R. I., and Dr. Wood, of
West Chester, Pa., were appointed a Committee to investigate his
case and report at the next session.
A communication from Isaac Colby, M. D., of Concord, N. H.,
on ' ' Cold and Heat as Therapeutic Agents, ' ' was received too
late for consideration, and it was therefore placed with unfinished
business to be examined at the next session.
W. E. Payne, M. D., proposed an amendment to Article IV.
of the Constitution and By-Laws, which was also laid over for
consideration at the next annual meeting. It was:
" The officers of the Institute shall be a President, a Vice Presi-
dent, a General Secretary, a Provisional Secretary and a Treas-
urer, with such other officers as shall be designated by the By-
Laws, to be chosen at such time, and in such manner, and for
348
American Institute of Homoeopathy.
such period, and with such duties as those By-Laws shall ordain. "
Samuel Gregg, M. D., Win. Wesselhceft, M. D., L. Macfar-
land, M. D. , and David Thayer, M. D., all of Boston, Mass.,
were appointed, by the Chairman, as a Committee of Arrange-
ments for the next meeting.
F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, Md., was appointed to
deliver the next annual address, with Samuel S. Guy, of Brooklyn,
N. Y., as his alternate.
The thanks of the Institute were then tendered to the retiring
officers for their faithful performance of duty, and to J. P. Dake,
M. D., for his eloquent address, as well as to the physicians of
Brooklyn for their graceful hospitality. The meeting adjourned
to reassemble in Boston in June, 1859.
At this session of 1858, thirty-eight new members were elected
to the Institute.
M. D.
John Turner,
George V. Newcomb,
John G. Rosman,
Henry Minton,
J. Pitman Dinsmore,
Henry E. Morrill,
W. L. R. Perrine,
James L. Watson,
Albert Wright,
Julius Berghaus,
Edwin West,
Edwin M. Kellogg,
Warren Freeman,
Otto Fullgroff,
E. Gurnsey,
Roger G. Perkins,
Martin Freligh,
M. R. Pulsifer,
Wm. A. Greenleaf,
J. J. Detwiller,
J. T. Hotchkiss,
Isaac E. Kirk,
N. G. H. Pulsifer,
Melancton W. Campbell,
T. De Wackerbart,
John J. Youlin,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
New York, N. Y.
Ellsworth, Me.
Hamilton, Canada West.
East on, Pa.
Bloomington Grove, N. Y.
Hudson, N. Y.
Waterville, Me.
Stillwater, N. Y.
St. Joseph, Mo.
Jersey City, N. J.
Rabies, Its Existence and Prevale7ice.
349
La Fayette Macfarland,
Joseph E. Jones,
L. B. Hawley,
Thomas Lafon,
Tullio S. Verdi,
Henry E. Stone,
Ezekiel Morrill,
Joseph C. Baker,
Wm. H. Lougee,
A. H. Ashton,
Lewis Coxe, Jr.,
Ernst F. Hofman,
M. D. Boston, Mass.
West Chester, Pa.
Phcenixville, Pa.
Newark, N. J.
Washington, D. C.
Fair Haven, Conn.
Concord, X. H.
Middleboro, Mass.
Methuen. Mass.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
RABIES, ITS EXISTENCE AND PREVALENCE.
By Dr. Wilbur J. Murphy.
A year or two ago I wrote an article for the Recorder on the
subject of rabies and its apparent infrequent occurrence. Since
then I have read of various reported outbreaks, and the descrip-
tions have agreed so accurately that there can be no doubt of its
true presence. The questionable existence of this canine malady
has occasioned so much controvery that it has attracted the atten-
tion of the ablest observers, with the result, I believe, of satis-
factorily establishing the fact that while not a frequent canine ill
the disease exists, and is capable of being transmitted by inocula-
tion to animals and human beings. I have never seen an animal
which I was satisfied was truly rabid. I have seen many diag-
nosed as such which were not, yet my observations have been
confined to a very limited sphere, and I do not doubt that what
has been described as rabies is the true disease. It may be truly
said, however, that the few, if any, of the articles in the public
print deal with the real disease. The genuine malady is revealed
by a train of symptoms of slow manifestations, and not occasioned
by the heat of one or two warm days.
To describe every canine ill as rabies, or to urge the quick
destruction of supposed rabid dogs, tends to needless alarm, and
furthers the dangerous precedent of denying the actual existence
of the true disease.
The Year Book of the Department of Agriculture, recently
issued, contains a lengthy article upon the subject of rabies and a
35° Rabies, Its Existence and Prevalence.
description of an outbreak in the vicinity of Washington. This
is no doubt the true disease, but rabies generally has become a
malady so commonly referred to that it seems to have become in
the public mind the only canine ill. Anyone seemed capable of
diagnosing the condition, and with unerring frequency. What
has been the result ? The public have been needlessly alarmed ,
grave apprehensions occasioned for no substantial cause, and sup-
posed victims subjected to various useless, harmful, painful, and
dangerous practices of prevention and cure. It has permitted the
growth of a horde of alarmists who lived and profited on the gen-
erally groudless fears of those who unfortunately sought their
aid.
In France, I believe, has been the greatest opposition to the
belief that rabies was a specific disease. I can recall an experi-
ment cited by a French author to substantiate his opposing view
of the existence of rabies. I also referred to it before in your
paper. By suspending a pig from the ground and torturing him
into a condition of frenzy, it is claimed that when released the
animal was rabid and displayed a tendency to attack and destroy
animals within its reach, and from its condition it was argued that
what was described as rabies was an exalted nervous condition
produced by conditions of ordinary occurrence. No mention was
made of any inoculations having been made with a serum pre-
pared from this frenzied pig. Such have been the arguments
advanced against rabies being a specific disease that it could be
produced by extreme nervous irritability.
We seemed to have learned some recent facts concerning rabies.
We have acquired a knowledge of its transmission by inoculation
and an explanation of the spontaneous origin of development. We
know that it is slow in its manifestations, and can only be recog-
nized by its junction with the protracted train of symptoms
characteristic of this dreadful malady. We have learned that the
heat of summer has no more influence on the disease than the
cold of winter, but that the summer heat produces canine ills and
indispositions which are hastily diagnosed as rabies, and which
have largely been influential in confusing the real specific disease
with temporary and simple canine disorders. At this season of
the year, when the extreme heat oppresses both human beings and
animals, it may not be out of place to say that the many and
varied delusions associated with the mention of rabies and hydro-
phobia cannot be too forcibly shown, and the truth made to stand
Chairmen of Sections and Committees of A. I. H. 351
in bold relief, to the end that we may not only dispel the many
false beliefs and fears regarding rabies and hydrophobia, but also
that the true disease may be recognized and controlled.
Springfield, Mass., July, ipoi.
CHAIRMEN OF SECTIONS AND COMMITTEES OF
A. I. H.
Dear Doctor :
I hand you herewith the appointments made by the President
of the American Institute for chairmen of sections and committees
at the last meeting in Richfield Springs.
Fraternally yours,
Wilsox A. Smith,
Recording Secretary.
Transportation. — Dr. J. B. Garrison, New York.
Press.— John L. Moffatt, M. D., Brooklyn.
Resolutions. — Benj. F. Bailey, Lincoln, Xeb.
Revision of By-Laws. — T. Y. Kinne, M. D., Paterson, N. J.
To Co-Operate with O., O. and L.— \Y. A. Dewey, M. D., Ann
Arbor, Mich.
On Medical Examining Boards. — C. A. Groves, M. D., East
Orange, N. J.
Life Insurance.— A. W. Bailey, M. D., Atlantic City, N. J.
Memorial Service. — T. Y. Kinne, M. D., Paterson, N. J.
Necrologist. — A. C. Cowperthwaite, M. D., Chicago.
Organization, Registration and Statistics. — T. Franklin Smith,
M. D., New York.
Medical Literature. — Frank Kraft, M. D., Cleveland, O.
International Bureau of Homoeopathy. — J. B. Gregg Custis,
M. D., Washington.
Chairman of Sections:
Materia Medica. — C. F. Menninger, M. D., Topeka, Kan.
Clinical Medicine. — W. H. Van Denberg, Mt. Vernon, N. Y.
Obstetrics.— J. P. Cobb, M. D., Chicago.
Gynaecology. — H. F. Biggar, M. D., Cleveland, O.
Paedology. — J. P. Rand, M. D., Monson, Mass.
Sanitary Science and Public Health. — C. F. Adams, M. D.,
Hackensack, X. J.
Surgery. — C. E. Kahlke, M. D., Chicago.
352 Reason for Existence.
Neurology and Electro-Therapeutics. — A. P. Williamson, M.
D., Minneapolis, Minn.
Ophthalmology, Otology, Laryngology. — E. H. Linnell, M.
D., Norwich, Conn.
Medical Education. — O. E. Janney, Baltimore, Md.
Medical Legislation. — J. H. McClelland, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.
The following is the leader in a new homoeopathic journal
started in Begium:
REASON FOR EXISTENCE.
By Dr. Th. Van den Heuvel.
Translated for the HomcEopaThic Recorder from the opening number of
Le M edecin Homoeopathe, Brussels, Belgium, June 15, 1901.
Pensive, in a revery, bowed down by the memories of an
agitated past, I was walking along the northern coast, when all at
once I beheld lying on some dark green seaweeds by the side of
the road the body of a young woman. Puzzled by the sight, I
approached slowly, and found a pale figure with sallow cheeks,
projecting cheek-bones, deep sunken eyes, pupils staring vaguely
without the brilliant light of vitality, and the body slight, slim,
and emaciated. It was an anaemic person, a chlorotic, at the
point of swooning away, and stretched out on the ground from
the lack of strength and energy.
" What brings you here, maiden?" I enquired.
Finally opening her eyes and collecting what strength yet
remained to her, she said:
" I fell down from inanition. Without assistance and support
I shall waste away and perish."
" And your name?"
" Homoeopathy," she answered.
''Homoeopathy," I cried, "the daughter of Samuel Hahne-
mann, my master."
"The same," said she. "I was born healthy and vigorous
and with the breath of a mighty life animating me, full of hope,
and guarded by the watchful and jealous care of my author and
his first disciples — the truly inspired — I developed into the strong
maiden of Holy Writ, a woman harmoniously developed for a
bright future. But those inspired men who comprehended me
died, and the younger generation, less aesthetic, less philosophic
Reason for Existence. 353
and less penetrating when looking at me and scrutinizing me, did
not see in me the noble fire of truth which the genius of my
master discovered in me. They smiled at me complacently and
went their way, murmuring, ' Perhaps she may be what she pre-
tends to be, the expression of pure truth; but she is too ethereal
for our busy spirits. Let us pass on.' And the generation
passes along, preferring the dull atmosphere of the past to the
bright morning dawn of the genius of Hahnemann. And what
can a lonely woman do? Without the strong shelter of a strong,
independent man, she cannot scatter the difficulties from her path
of progress; she may struggle on, but she must finally fall en-
feebled and exhausted. And so you see me in the last stage of
the struggle, a chlorotic sob at my heart, my breath coming slow
and labored, my limbs trembling, and having no other hope but
to grasp a brave and loving hand so that I may escape oblivion
and death. Who will help me?"
Wearied by her confession, she fell back on the sea-weed of the
down, languid and motionless.
" S.je my hand," I replied, "I knew Hahnemann, his dis-
ciples— the inspired ones — and I knew his daughter, Homoe-
opathy, and the bright beam of truth that animates her and which
will not allow her to perish. Arise and let us go forward. You
shall have my shelter and protection, my time and my energy.
The Truth may languish, but she cannot die."
She arose, and resting on my arm she made her first step hesi-
tatingly, when suddenly — I awoke! My vision had been but a
dream !
But what was the cause of this dream? A dream, it is said, is
generally the remembrance of an act performed at some preceding
time, more or less distant. Consulting my memory, I remembered
having read in the Journal of Congress in Paris in 1900 " The
progress of Homoeopathy in the world since the last Congress,"
and that I was struck by the division made by Dr. Leon Simon of
those reporting into three categories, those that are gratifying,
those that are satisfactory and those which are disappointing.
This latter embraced Spain and Belgium.
Yes, Belgium is disappointing, though it sheltered Jahr, the
first disciple of Hahnemann, and a host of noble fighters, who de-
fended and extended Homoeopathy successfully some 15 to 20
37ears ago — since that time there has been — decadence. Is this
possible ? Yet the confession made at Paris proves this. The
354 Secale Cornutum in Diabetes Mellilus.
pure and philosophic spirit of Homoeopathy has given way to
sacra auri fames. Science for the sake of science is found too
great a sacrifice in this age of material enjoyments. Science is
pursued now for its financial rewards — that is the motto now.
The lack of cohesion also is a second factor in this decadence,
and this slow poison has gradually in its successive doses pro-
duced anaemia.
But there is one consolation: " Homoeopathy," says Dr. Simon,
"may undergo partial and momentary eclipses in one country,
but even though it should for a time completely disappear in one
country, it will always appear again after prospering in other
lands."
So now, though decadent in Belgium, it flourishes in America
and in Germany, thanks to its journals and the independence of
their editors.
Then be of good cheer! Go right forward! and let us give to
our Belgian readers a new journal which, though unpretentious
in its first beginnings, is devoted to Homoeopathy and its propa-
gation !
SECALE CORNUTUM IN DIABETES MELLITUS.
By Dr. Saray Chandra Gosh.
The following is taken from the Transactions of the Inter-
national Horn. Congress in Paris:
Case I. A man forty years of age had been suffering with
diabetes for seven years; the treatment so far had been without
effect. The urine contained a considerable percentage of sugar.
The patient eagerly desired cold drinks, but these afterwards lay
heavy in the stomach. He was emaciated, the skin was pale.
Great prostration, the knees extremely cold. Great restlessness.
Secale corriut. 6 Dil. The patient recovered after one mouth.
Case II. A man of fifty years with diabetes. Loss of memory,
cannot fix his attention on any one object. A heavy percentage
of sugar in the urine, with continual urging to urinate. Pain in
the bladder, color of the urine pale yellow. The mouth dry, the
saliva sticky and foamy, severe thirst. Cured by Secale cornat. 6.
Case III. A man had been suffering from diabetes for eleven
years and had become a mere skeleton The following symptoms
appeared with him in alternation:
Anxiety and timidity. Dizziness and vertigo. Heaviness of
Secale Cornutum in Diabetes Mellitus. 355
the eyes. The hearing is poor. The nose dry and stopped up,
so that he cannot breathe. The face pale, the complexion earthy
gray. Heat, burning in the face with pale cheeks. The mouth
is dry. Hunger, even after eating longing for water; sensation
of emptiness in the stomach. Tendency to constipation; the stools
are hard and difficult. Constant urging to urinate. Urine pale
with gelatinous sediment. Pain in the hips during urination.
Dry cough. Pulse slow and weak. Great weariness, increased
by every mental exertion. Secale cornutum effected a thorough
cure in eight weeks.
Case IV. A man of forty-five years suffered from diabetes. He
had the following symptoms: Dyspepsia. Absent-minded. The
patient continually thinks of suicide. Headache at the least vexa-
tion. Copious flow of acrid tears. Xose is swollen and dry. Face
pale and sunken. Bitter taste in the mouth. Mouth dry, with
only slight thirst. He is hungry, but cannot eat anything.
Xausea and vomiting. Xausea, especially in the evening after
eating. Flatulent colic toward evening; burning in the abdomen.
Burning and violent pain in the region of the liver. Violent
pressure on the stomach, as from a heavy load, with burning.
Violent urging to urinate, after micturition. The urine is pale,
watery, copious. Respiration is slow. Palpitation in the even-
ing, with slow and intermitting pulse. Great weariness and
trembling of the limbs. Clamminess in the hands and toes. Con-
siderable prostration. The skin is always dry. Irritable, ner-
vous temperament.
Secale cornut. had quite a wonderful effect in this case.
Case V. A man with diabetes had besides this also chills and
fever every afternoon, the temperature rising to 1020 F. There
was melancholy and dislike for work. Vertigo. Dryness of the
eyes. Pale, earthy gray complexion. Taste very bitter. Tongue
dry and with a black coating. The gums bleed easily. Voracious
hunger, even after eating. Constipation, stools hard and tough.
The quantity of urine is extraordinary; he feels very tired and
prostrate. The urine contains sugar and albumen. Urine red.
of high specific gravity. Sexual desire and potency have alto-
gether disappeared. Violent palpitation, the pulse small and
intermittent. Chills and fever in the afternoon, with great thirst.
On the 6th of January, 18S9, he received Sizygium jambolinum.
After this he had a bad night, frequent micturition, the urine
356 A Triumph for Homoeopathy.
having a specific gravity of 1045 and containing very much
sugar. Temperature 1020 F.
January 10. No improvement.
January n. Secale cornnt. A quiet night. Urine in twenty-
four hours 94 ounces. Specific gravity 1042. Still much sugar.
Fever.
January 20. No fever. Urine in twenty-four hours 70 ounces.
Specific gravity 1035. Still much sugar.
January 30. Daily quantity of urine 60 ounces. Specific
gravity 1024. Considerable sugar. No sugar.
February 16. Quantity of urine 50 ounces. Specific gravity
1020. No sugar.
February 22. Quantity of urine 44 ounces. Specific gravity
1 01 8. No sugar.
February 28. Quantity of urine 40 ounces. Specific gravity
10 14. No sugar.
By a continued use of Secale cornut. the patient was perfectly
cured.
These cases, the Doctor says, give a striking proof of the cura-
tive effects of Secale cornut. in diabetes mellitus and insipidus.
A TRIUMPH FOR HOMCEOPATHY.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn.
An adherent of Homoeopathy, a member of the homoeopathic
society in C, writes: " I am urged to report to you a special case.
At the end of last April my boy, Oscar, 8 years of age, was seized
with violent pains in the ears. Since fever also set in. I gave
him Aconite and Belladonna in alternation, and put him into a cold
sitz-bath twice a day. The fever soon diminished, but not the
pains in the ear. There was a deep redness of the external ear
and a slight flow, hardly perceptible. After a few days, and
after trying several remedies, hardness of hearing set in. On the
nth of May I determined to consult a specialist, and chose Dr.
S. He carefully examined the lad, and then came to me saying:
1 Your boy is in a bad case; the right ear is lost, the left one may
yet be saved; he has a malignant inflammation of the middle ear,
which, however, strange to say, has been in some way checked.
Has he not had some discharge from it?' I answered, No. ' Did
you do anything for it ?' Yes, I answered, I bathed the lad every
A Triumph for Homes opcttliy. 357
day. But this did not seem to satisfy the doctor, for he asked me
several times whether the ailment was not older, and whether no
discharge at all had appeared. When I had as often denied these
questions, he replied: 'This form is the most dangerous one, the
inflammation being even very malignant. On the right ear the
boy is already deaf, for the tympanum has parted in two places,
and is so much changed that it no more looks like a tympanum.
The left ear has been already drawn into sympathetic ailment
through the suppuration of the gland in the tube, and if the gland
is not removed your son will be deaf, or at least hard of hearing.
The operation must be performed. I can only undertake the
treatment under this condition.' After inquiring more closely
about the position of the gland and the nature of the operation, I
answered that I could not yet conclude to have the operation per-
formed; the lad appeared to me to be too much weakened by the
disease. Dr. S. replied, ' Then come back in ten to twelve days;
but then it must be done.'
' ' I then took my boy and went directly to the homoeopathic
physician, Dr. B. This gentleman — who is also a specialist for
ailments of the throat and ear — examined my boy with the same
skill as Dr. S., and gave the same statement as to his state, only
he was of opinion that a thorough cure might be effected also
without an operation. After having thoroughly syringed the ears
as Dr. S. had done, he prescribed Calcarea jodat. in alternation
with Silieea, and dropping in diluted extract of Hamamelis. I
conscientiously followed his prescription, but in addition I had the
boy take warm baths of the whole body in water in which pine
straw was steeped, such baths being known to me as salutary
from my youth. The pains diminished, and in twelve days the
boy was cured.
"Completely. The inflammation of the middle ear and the
suppuration of the gland were removed, the tympanum was per-
fectly normal, and not even a trace of hardness of hearing re-
mained. When I presented the boy on the 24th of May to Dr. S.r
he was extremely astonished, and said: ' This is an extraordinarily
good state; the boy can be considered as cured.' But he did not
ask how it was effected. I am highly rejoiced at this result, and
shall thank Dr. B. as long as I live.
"Ed. Th."
358 Danger in the Use of Granite Ware.
DANGER IN THE USE OF GRANITE WARE.
From Leipziger Pop. Zeitschr.f. Horn., October, 1899.
Dr. Sharpin, in Brighton, points out the dangers connected
with the use of enameled ware as developed in a number of in-
vestigations. When enameled ware is heated the iron and the
enamel expand unequally. The enamel then cracks off in large
or smaller splinters resembling glass. This can always be found
in the articles of food cooked in such utensils. Dr. Sharpin
thinks that the present great increase of appendicitis or inflamma-
tion of the vermiform appendix must be ascribed to swallowing
these small, sharp splinters.
SOME USES OF TUBERCULINUM.
By Dr. Mau, of Kiel.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Leipziger
Pop. Z. f. Horn.
I. A chid, one year and a half of age, whose sister I had cured
from a tuberculous affection of the eyes by means of Tiiberculinumy
came to me in May, 1889, to be treated. She was suffering from
softening of the bones, nocturnal restlessness, paleness and ema-
ciation. I had known the family for years, and I knew, there-
fore, that the child had a tuberculous constitution. It was cured
with Tubercidinum in six weeks; owing to some disturbance of
the digestion I had then to give her Pulsatilla, and now the child
is healthy and developing finely; its bones have become hard and
strong.
II. A married woman, twenty-nine years of age, came to me
four years ago on account of pulmonary consumption. She is
very pale, nervous and much disturbed by her cough. All her
relatives knew she was consumptive, and she had spent the pre-
ceding winters in Malta. While being treated with the homoeo-
pathic remedies indicated, there appeared a very slow and gradual
amelioration, and two years passed in this way, without my hav-
ing been able to make much progress. Then I gave her for a
few months Tuberculinum, which led to a rapid and permanent
cure.
III. A lady, forty years of age, came under my treatment in
November, 1888; nearly all her relatives had died of consump-
tion, I believe her to be the only survivor, and she was manifestly
Some Uses of Tuber culinum. 359
about to follow the others. There was much fever, especially of
evenings, great restlessness and excitability; melancholy; the
tongue was very red; chronic diarrhoea. During the last six
weeks she had lost much in weight; lack of appetite. Tuber-
culinum 30 cured her in six weeks. After her second powder the
fever left her, soon afterward her diarrhoea ceased, and the patient
quickly regained her weight and strength. The discharge of the
stool was in a manner I had often noticed with consumptives, the
discharge being explosive like shooting off a gun. Consumptives
are usually full of hope, except in tuberculosis of the brain. In
this, patients are peevish, irritable, sullen, taciturn, dejected and
melancholy. But as they recover, their disposition also becomes
cheerful and normal.
IV. A little girl of seven years came under my treatment on
account of tuberculosis of the left knee. She had been limping
for eleven months. The knee is much swollen and sensitive; the
teeth are tuberculous; there is consumption in the family. After
taking Tuberculinum for four weeks, the swelling of the knee
had diminished by one-third; the joint was flexible, the raspberry
tongue had disappeared, the teeth were sound. Then for eight
weeks more she received Tuberculinum 100 and was fully re-
stored; the last trace of swelling on the knee disappeared on giv-
ing her Calcarea carbon, in the third trituration.
V. Tuberculinum has a wonderful action on the teeth and their
growth. These are what I call tuberculous teeth, though often
they are only very imperfectly developed; they have holes on the
surface. Three years ago I was treating a lady who had many
scars and glands on the neck, and her teeth were such as de-
scribed above. As the health of the patient was restored, her
teeth also became clean and fine, the holes became smooth and
most of them vanished.
In a girl of eleven years, this effect was even more marked. She
had a fretting herpes {herpes tonsurans) on the head. All her
glands were swollen; raspberry tongue; a malignant cough, worse
at night; though eleven years of age, she had as yet no teeth,
i. e., their development was very rudimentary and they did not
show above the gums. All her brothers and sisters had died of
consumption. In three months' treatment with the ordinary
homoeopathic remedies very slight progress had been made. Then
I gave her for five months Tuberculinum. This was followed by
the diminution of the glands, while her chest took a more normal
360 Some Uses of Ttiberculiiium.
form, the respiration improved, and, strange to relate — her teeth
began to grow. She is now in good health and her teeth are
quite passable; the herpes also has disappeared.
I had quite a line of children of different ages from the same
family who came under my treatment for herpes tonsurans. The
mother told me she had spent three hundred dollars to get the
children cured, but without any result. All known remedies had
been used by her various physicians; also several specialists on
cutaneous diseases had labored over their poor heads, but all in
vain. The hair had been clipped off short and the head scoured
twice a day, but in spite of all — the herpes had remained. Then
she had hired a cottage and had kept them there isolated while a
celebrated specialist on herpes treated them. But when all this
had proved of no avail, she at last came to me. The homoeo-
pathic treatment of herpes with our anti-psoric remedies has often
proved effective in my hands, but it usually occupied quite a time.
I had cured the mother of the children from consumption in the
first stage; I could, therefore, suppose that this herpes had a
tuberculous foundation, and so I gave all of them Tuberculinum
in a high potency. And the effect ? In a few weeks all of them
were cured, not only of herpes, but also of their glandular swell-
ings from which they had suffered.
About twelve cases of fretting herpes on the hairy scalp have
since then come under my treatment, and they were all cured in
a short time, with a concomitant improvement in their general
health. Of course, some day an allopath will find the bacilli ot
the herpes, breed them and astonish the world with subcutaneous
injection of the same!
VI. A boy, fourteen years of age, came under my treatment in
1886 for tuberculosis. He had been having a malignant cough
for a year, once, also, there was hemoptae, and the tip of one of
the lungs had a catarrhal affection. A long time before he had
had pneumonia. His chest is flat, the respiration accelerated.
After receiving Tuberculinum he recovered his health, and has
retained it since.
I would call attention to one symptom in this case, namely, the
tendency of the skin to tan quickly in those portions which are
exposed to the rays of the sun. This symptom is very frequently
found in consumptives. I once treated a small boy who was
brought to me on account of his irritable temperament; he came
from a tuberculous family, and had this symptom of tanning
The City of Desperate Hope. 361
quickly, as well as dirty green teeth. Two months' treatment
with Tuberculi?ium and the teeth were clean, the quick tanning in
the sun disappeared, and his temperament had become normal.
VII. An unmarried lady of L. had been sick for sixteen to
seventeen years, suffering first from hysteria with irritation of the
spine, becoming worse from year to year. The spine was strongly
contorted, the left hand was inflamed so that her index finger had
to be amputated. For two years both her legs had been paralyzed.
The physician in the municipal hotel in W. desired to inject
Koch's lymph, as that fad was flourishing at the time; and this
was done eighteen times. The result was striking (!); both the
legs became devoid of sensation from above all the way down. It
was in this state that I found her in December, 1891. Prescrip-
tion: Tuberculinum in high potency, every week a dose. In four
weeks sensation began to return in her lower limbs, and she could
gradually also move her toes. In May she could sit up again.
In June she was able to rise up by herself and walk around her
room. It is now the 9th of August. Her lower limbs are in a
perfectly normal condition, and with the exception of the contor-
tion of the spine and the inflammation of her hand she is as well
as she was before she was taken ill.
The patient had been declared incurable, and the doctors and
cultivated people in G. are aghast at such cures Tuberculinum
has had a wonderful effect. Many so-called incurable cases would
no doubt be restored by this remedy if treated in time by the
proper persons.
THE CITY OF DESPERATE HOPE.
I could not help christening it so, for such it is to me and such
it has been to many, oh! how many others.
It is not radiant, smiling hope; the hope that fills the day with
gladness and the night with pleasant dreams. Oh, no; it is des-
perate hope, and that because it is the last hope. It is the hope
that is kept alive only by love; it is the hope that has its nightly
baptism of tears; it is the hope that does not warm the heart, that
does not nerve the purpose, that is not strengthened by the un-
utterable yearning that walks hand in hand with it — without
which companionship it would inevitably perish and leave no
sign.
And yet this sadly-named City nestles amongst the eternal
362 The City of Desperate Hope.
hills, which are kissed by the first gleams of the fresh day and
are bathed in the ineffable splendor of a mountain sunset. In its
vista are snow-clad peaks that are crowned with the purple light
which no pigment may depict; and the air is balmy with the
odors of the primeval forest. There the birds carol as if there
were neither suffering, sorrow nor death in the world; as if never
a tear had strained the face of any one of woman born.
With all this, it is still the " City of Desperate Hope," for
death is ever waving its wings over it; the shadow is ever there;
above the joyous psalm of the birds rises the wail of those who
cannot be comforted, for hope, even the desperate hope, is dead.
" I shall go unto him but he shall never return to me !"
Yes; it is rightly named — it is the " City of Desperate Hope."
and it is the grave of hopes without numbered; of hopes that
have left the heart bankrupt; of hopes that in their blighting
have deepened and darkened the mystery of Life. It was written
in the Book of Fate that a journey thither must be made, and the
aged father with the stricken son began the sad pilgrimage, im-
pelled by desperate hope to visit the " City of Desperate Hope,"
God speed them !
Be brave, O Mother ; bereft of thy care, thy child has still thy
prayer. And they left her; and desperate hope took up its abode
in her heart. (The last look — a mother's face wet with tears; and
the last sound of home — the sobbing of the sisters. O Life !)
And, oh, the bravery of the stricken one. The pink flush on
the cheeks told of the fatal fire that was consuming his vitals;
and the wasted face wTith the strange light in the eye, and the
weakness — all the strength of manhood gone as a mist before the
sun. Surely, He helped them all or they had never reached the
City of Desperate Hope.
And there they were met by a man who of his own free will
choses to live in even the " City of Desperate Hope." He gave
his hand to the gray -haired father and spake a cheery word to the
smitten son; and there was healing in his voice and in the clasp
of his hand. He it is who infuses hope into the dwellers of the
city of ill-omened name; the day is not so dark when he visiteth
them; the courage is refreshed by his presence even as a flower
lifteth up its petals when the dew of night baptizeth them. He is
the Great-Heart who is to guide them in the battle which, in God's
providence, it is theirs to fight. Courage ! There is light behind
the dark clouds; the issues of life and death are in His hand, and
The City of Desperate Hope. 363
there is healing in the sunlight and in the breezes and in the germ-
less air. It is ours to avail ourselves of every means, to put forth
every effort; it is His to order our days — " Thy will be done I"
The old grey-head had to speak the parting word — " Auf Wie-
dersehen !" — and it was as the bitterness of death.
As the City of Desperate Hope faded in the distance, the Father
felt his heart filled with that same hope ! and with every mile it
grew stronger and stronger, and the lonely traveller said to him-
self with solemn emphasis, Lo, it is even He who tempers the wind
to the shorn lamb that doeth this !
% •%. •%. ■>£ ^ ^ ^
When I, a graceless student, polished the benches in the old
college on Filbert street, the gospel of despair was preached when
the professor dwelt upon pulmonary consumption. To be sure,
our literature was fairly besprinkled with wonder-cures of that
disease, but considering the erroneous diagnoses, the cure by med-
icine alone was too largely mythical to make one at all sanguine.
Of the treatises upon the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis
by homoeopathic writers I do not know of one that is worth the
paper that was spoiled in printing it. The much vaunted booklet
of the late Dr. Burnett is only a caricature so far as diagnosis is
concerned. It certainly required a remarkable liver to enable a
man to publish such a " case " as this:
" About two years ago I was called to a boy of three years of age in the
night, with diarrhoea, furious fever, burning hot skin, great heat in the
head, red flushed face, and eyes turned upwards quivering and rolling.
Patient had been ailing a little, and ordinary homoeopathic remedies had
been given in vain. Considering the case to be one of incipient tubercu-
losis, I gave one dose of a high potency of its virus; within an hour patient
quieted down, went to sleep, burst into a free perspiration, and awoke in the
morning greatly improved, and very soon completely recovered, and is now
a very fine boy."*
That is sorry stuff to come from the press in the year of grace,
1 901, and it is perilous for Homoeopathy if it tolerates such liter-
ature.
But Dr. Burnett's best-based claim for Bacillinum becomes very
shadowy when we remember that Nature alone is competent to
bring about the cure of pulmonary tuberculosis. So long agoas
1838 Carswell, of London, said that pathological anatomy amply
showed that there was no disease so capable of a spontaneous cure.
* The New Cure for Consumption by its own Virus. P. 25. Fourth edi-
tion.
364 The City of Desperate Hope.
The trend of the latest testimony is all in the same direction ; and
it is time that we should recognize this great and encouraging
truth.
Since making the heart-aching journey to the City of Desperate
Hope — the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondack mountains
— I have done little other reading than that pertaining to pul-
monary tuberculosis, and remembering the teaching of my stud-
ent days I feel like a very Rip Van Winkle, which infact, I am, for
"The strong man's part and the lion's heart
Are things of the long ago."
That which was pleasant pastime then has now become work,
and hard work, too. I see a field in which I cannot hope to
labor, for the night cometh in which no man can work. I can
only wish God, speed to those who are in their prime, for the har-
vest is ripe for the sickle.
Some seven or eight years ago six young men smitten with pul-
monary tuberculosis went to the Adirondacks to battle for their
lives. Two succumbed to the disease, four survived. One of the
number was a physician, but with no special knowledge of the
treatment of tuberculosis. He made his mistakes — luckily not
fatal — and he got a rich experience. On his recovery he deter-
mined to settle in Saranac Lake village and devote his life to the
treatment of the scourge of civilization, "consumption."
He shared to the full all the amenities for which the disciples of
the older school are notorious; but, somehow, Homoeopathy is
like the plantain, it thrives by being trodden upon. Dr. J. H.
Hallock can look back to-day with a pitying smile at the curses
that have proven blessings by developing his " nerve."
Since he was able to resume the practice of medicine Dr. Hal-
lock has had, I believe, five years of experience in treating pul-
monary tuberculosis. Aerotherapy and, in needful cases, the
"rest cure," supplemented by the homoeopathic remedy admin-
istered under the most favorable conditions, have enabled Dr. H.
to obtain some most cheering results. In fact, it is the rule that
incipient cases are arrested, advanced cases made far more com-
fortable than is possible at home, and there is often enough to re-
ward one's endeavors, a recovery of what had seemed a hopeless
case.
If the digestion is not impaired, it seems to be only a matter of
time under Dr. Hallock' s ministrations and with that miraculous
Adirondack air. Keep up the nutrition until the physiological
The City of Desperate Hope. 365
income is in excess of the pathological expenditure and the result
is a grand triumph for modern medicine. Nature is the physi-
cian's ally, and under the changed conditions of living the City of
Desperate Hope becomes radiant with promise.
The saddest chapter in Dr. Hallock's experience is on account
of cases sent too late. He gently urges that we homoeopathic
physicians trust too implicitly to our "remedies" alone. Alas,
are we all sufficiently expert as diagnosticians to detect when our
patients are nearing the "dead line?" I know that I did not;
but I can urge in pitiful extenuation that I was, as it were, be-
numbed by the calamity that befel me when the son upon whom
I had hoped to lean in the days of my decreptitude was smitten.
I hoped against hope until the bitter truth crushed me to the
earth.
I saw the sanatorium at Saranac Lake and wondered if Homoe-
opathy could not also have one there to cope with the older school
and put our therapeutics to the supreme test. Our Talcott's
showing at Middletown teaches us what to hope for, and the same
energies that got us the asylum at Middletown should procure us
a field in the Adirondacks. I know one old man who would
gladly serve there as a nurse for the remainder of his days. The
supreme science that is necessary to administer a " hypodermic"
would not be required of him; the faithful carrying out of direc-
tions would not tax him over much; meanwhile, he would be
seeing daily what Nature could do with the similar as its intelli-
gent ally.
Think of the victims of this dread scourge —
" — some we loved, the loveliest and the best,
That from his Vintage rolling Time hath pressed,
Have drunk their Cup a round or two before,
And one by one sank silently to rest."
The poor consumptive is a physiological bankrupt; the deficit
has been taken from him, that surplus that fortifies us against the
ever-present bacillus. And timely aid will restore to him his lost
immunity. Think on these things, ye who are in health; think
on these things, ye who are the guardians of the public health;
think on these things, ye who would not make the heart-aching
journey to the City of Desperate Hope.
S. A. J.
366 Experiences With Bacillinum or Tuber culinum.
EARLY EXPERIENCES WITH BACILLINUM OR
TUBERCULINUM.
By W. Younan, M. B., C. M. (Edin.)
(In Calcutta Journal of Medicine.)
Early or first experiences through life are like so many land-
marks on the road, that one may reasonably be excused for re
freshing his memory of them, or for pointing them out for the
guidance of others. In matters of science this becomes almost a
duty, and a physician has this duty to perform par excellejice, con-
sidering he has the interests of humanity at heart.
About the year of my conversion to Homoeopathy I hailed with
delight the appearance of a new book by Dr. James Compton Bur-
nett, of London, entitled "New Cure of Consumption with its
own Virus." The impatience with which I waited for its receipt
was only natural, considering the subject matter of the work and
the promises for good that it contained. For who could be indif-
ferent to the sufferings of thousands of consumptive humanity
when medical science had proclaimed a ' ' new cure of consump-
tion," that fearful disease before which physicians had so often
stood with bowed heads and folded hands.
The book arrived in time, and the eagerness with which I de-
voured its contents ensured my happy digestion of it. To secure
a sufficient supply of the virus, which could not then be locally
obtained, I wrote to Dr. Burnett for the same, and he directed
Mr. Heath, Homoeopathic Chemist of Ebury Street, Loudon, to
send me half an ounce of Bacillinum C. (one hundredth potency)
in small globules, the very thing the doctor had been using him-
self. My satisfaction at having been so armed was immense, and
I set about looking for cases to try the new remedy upon.
Some two or three months after there came under my care a
young lady, fifteen years of age, suffering from continued fever of
a remittent type. No impression could I make upon the course
of the fever, which had already run into the third week with per-
sistent high temperatures. One element of gravity seriously com-
plicated the case: The heart was damaged from early childhood
by a sharp attack of rheumatic fever, and there was present a
loud mitral bruit. At this stage typhoid symptoms supervened
with an alarming diarrhoea and an incessant cough, which was
short and dry. An allopathic physician, a mutual friend, exam-
ined the case with me. and gave a very unfavourable prognosis,
Experiences With Bacillinum or Tuberculinum. 367
the state of the heart arresting his attention particularly. The
ordinary typhoid remedies had been given in vain, and I was re-
signing myself for the worst, when suddenly a very bad fit of
coughing suggested to me the possibility of the whole being
latently tubercular. For I had repeatedly examined the chest for
physical signs and could find none. What a straw is to a drown-
ing man, so was the tubercular inspiration in favor of the admin-
istration of Bacillinum C. to me. Two globules were administered
at my morning visit, and I left in fear and trembling for the pos-
sible loss of most valuable time. Imagine my surprise and de-
light, however, when on visiting the patient in the evening I
found that the fever had been less high during the day, the num-
ber of stools diminished and the cough less frequent and trouble-
some For the following days a placebo was prescribed, and I
had the supreme satisfaction to note how slowly and yet surely
the patient went into convalescence. A second dose of Bacillinum
was not necessary. The young lady went up country for a
change, and when some months after she returned to town, look-
ing greatly improved, I made an examination of the heart and
was surprised to find the mitral insufficiency less pronounced. I
lost sight of her for over a year, when one day being called to at-
tend her sister I found my interesting patient had just returned
from school up country, where she had enjoyed the best of health.
I questioned her as to the heart, and she informed me that that
organ had given her less and less trouble as her general health
had improved. A final examination conclusively showed me
what I had never dared to expect — a complete restoration of the
heart. Not a trace of the once too evident mitral bruit could be
detected, and I have since learnt to believe in the curability of
organic valvular disease of the heart. I have lately heard that
the young lady remains in good health.
Not long after my experience with the case related above I at-
tended the two youngest children of a family living in one of the
healthiest localities in town. Both of them came down with con-
tinued fever, which, in the third week of its course, developed
typhoid symptoms, those of the lungs and bronchial tubes being
specially marked. Rhus tox., Arsenicum, Phosphorus and Sul-
phur had failed to benefit, and both the doctor and the patient
were in a bad way. I well remember being called out one night
to one of these children, as the mother had become quite alarmed
at her breathing and general condition. I cannot say why I
368 Experiences With Bacillinum or Tuber culinum.
questioned the anxious mother as to the milk supply of the house
except that the wish to trace her children's disease to tuberculosis
was father to the thought. Her answer was definite and assuring
to the effect that the goala (milk-man) had been supplying very
bad milk for two or three months, and that, in consequence, since
the children's illness, she had been using condensed milk. I fear
the stable door here had been shut when the horse had run away!
However, I jumped to the conclusion that tuberculous milk was
at the root of the children's typhoid fever, and what more was
wanted than to give the little patients a hair of the dog that bit
them! Two globules of Bacillinum C. were given to each and a
placebo administered every three or four hours as a fever mixture.
Bacillinum C. proved as true as steel, and that single dose of
orthodoxly ridiculous magnitude was sufficient to kill the whole
army of tubercular bacilli that had presumably invaded the organ-
ism of each sick child. Both children went into speedy conva-
lescence, and I, their doctor, incurred a deep debt of gratitude to
Bacillinum C, which has become deeper and heavier with subse-
quent years of experience with it.
I am also very thankful to Dr. Burnett for having taught me
the use of this very potent drug, without which many a morbid
condition wTould remain incurable. Let others laugh at Isopathy
and call it filthy and revolting. The Isopathic virus in the C. or
CC. potency is as clean and inviting as the homoeopathic vegetable
or mineral drug, and acts as safely and pleasantly. Unlike our
brethren of the opposite school we possess a very simple method
for converting rank and deadly poisons into beneficent medicines.
But that method is apparently too simple for learned orthodoxy!
It is some consolation at least for us homoeopaths to know that
the researches of modern " regular " medicine tend towards Isop-
athy. If the virus of a disease can be so modified as to become a
curative agent in that very disease, why cannot a vegetable or
mineral drug be so treated as to have an effect on the sick body
similar, if not identical, to that which it can be shown to produce
on the healthy body ?
Here is Homoeopathy in a nutshell!
Here is the law Similia Similibus Curantur!
Hemicrania Retinalis. 369
HEMICRANIA RETINALIS.
From Art Medicate, vol. 92, p. 13.
A young lady, thirty years of age, tall and somewhat slender,
nervous, excitable, with regular menstruation, is in good health
except for an ailment that has developed in consequence of her
particular mode of life. She is very busy, late to bed and an
early riser; sewing and reading fill her days and evenings, caus-
ing a great weariness of the eyes.
Since the last year and a half she has been suffering from dis-
turbances in her vision and headache. The nature of these ail-
ments has not been very closely investigated by the very cele-
brated physician whom she consulted, and who, in consequence,
pursued a very perverted course of treatment. As is usual, they
endeavored to remove an entirely hypothetical affection of the
stomach by remedies which should restore the digestion — which
was quite undisturbed — and which should combat imaginary gas-
tric impurities. . The ill effects of such a treatment showed them-
selves in an aggravation of the original ailment, greatly increas-
ing the difficulty of the case.
And yet the case was simple enough: The patient stated that
occasionally all at once her vision became disturbed; she could
not see well, and for a while only one-half of the object at which
she was looking, or only the right or the left side of a picture.
Thus, there was plainly enough a hemiopia verticalis, and, as she
stated that this disturbance was followed by a violent hemicrania,
it was manifested that it was a case of one-sided cephalalgia orig-
inating in the retina.
For this ailment our Materia Medica offers us Belladonna, Iris
versicolor, Phosphorus and Spigelia as the most suitable remedies.
The writer believed that Iris was especially indicated, owing to
the pertinacious constipation from which the patient was suffer-
ing. (In the plurality of the provings, however, we find diar-
rhoeas, and even dysenteric evacuations, and only in one case we
read of constipation followed by thin, watery diarrhoea. Edit.)
Iris versicolor causes in healthy persons disturbance of the vision,
hemicrania with vomiting and facial neuralgia. These morbid
symptoms have been confirmed by clinic observations. Ambly-
opia, double and half vision have been observed in disturbances of
vision for which Iris versicolor is indicated. Dr. Claude endeav-
ored to investigate the effects of Iris on constipation by clinical
observations. He found that this remedy only has a curative ef-
370 The Materia Medica Pur a.
feet on constipation beginning with the i2~3oth dilutions. This
might have also been supposed a priori, since this drug in strong
doses always has a purgative effect; and the laws of pharmacody-
namics teach us that all medicines when used in small doses pro-
duce effects the opposite to those produced by large doses of the
same remedy; to cure constipation with Iris would, therefore, re-
quire infinitesimal doses.
The patient, therefore, received Iris versicolor 30, dilution, six
globules in 200 grammes of water, a tablespoonful four times a
day. In the course of four days there was a decided improve-
ment. The remedy was repeated, but only two doses a day were
then given. The cure was complete and yet Dr. Jousset con-
cludes his instructive contribution with the question: " Will this
cure be a permanent one?" Of course, if the young lady is com-
pelled by her circumstances to resume her former mode of life
which had proved so fatiguing to the retina a permanent cure
must be a matter of doubt.
THE MATERIA MEDICA PURA— HAHNEMANN'S
CONTRIBUTION TO MEDICAL SCIENCE.
By A. P. Bowie, M. D., Uniontown.
That Hahnemann was learned in all the wisdom of the schools
of medicine no one will gainsay who is at all acquainted with his
life and writings. Dissatisfaction and repeated failures to cure led
him to seek their cause, and after much study and observation and
experiment he discovered a natural law of cure by which uncertainty
and doubt would give place to certainty and success. After his
discovery of the relationship of the disease to its medicinal cure
there remained a great work for him to accomplish, viz., furnish
a materia medica— -a work the like of which had never been pub-
lished before, and one that was destined to revolutionize the prac-
tice of medicine. The works heretofore printed on the subject
of materia medica were filled with remedies the properties of which
were guessed at hy their smell, taste, botanical affinity, chemical
composition or experience.
Fabulous virtues were ascribed to many drugs of an inert char-
acter, and numbers of compounds were regarded as essential to get
full effects of the drugs. To undertake to construct a materia
medica such as was demanded bv the laws of similars would have
The Materia Medica Pur a. 371
appalled a man afraid of work and lacking energy, but Hahnemann
was not only a thinker but a worker, and when he set himself a
task he was sure to accomplish it. He first published the Organon.
And then after many years of weary and painstaking work he gave
to the profession his Materia Medica Pura.
Today the list of medicines contained in this work furnishes us
with the best medicines we have. And where is the doctor today
without his Aconite, Belladoiina, Pulsatilla, Nux vomica in his
medicine cases ? They are well named polychrests. Remedies as
efficacious today, when surgery and bacteriology, antitoxin serum
therapeutics are fashionable and floods of sample compounds are
thrust upon us, and the practice of medicine made easy from
pocket-book works and only a line repertories.
What was said by Dr. Charles Julius Hempel in 1854 applies
equally as well today as when his pen wrote these lines:
"It is a great shame that the primary sources of our art — the great
and immortal works of the founder of homoeopathy and more par-
ticularly his Materia Medica Pura and his Chronic Diseases, to-
gether with the provings belonging thereto — should not be studied
more zealously than they are. It is laborious and fatiguing study.
We ought not to forget that these noble works are by far the
best part of our art, that our most brilliant cures are achieved with
the drugs which were originally proved by Hahnemann and his
first disciples."
And yet we are told that Homoeopathy has not contributed any-
thing to medical science — that we are mere parts, as it were, and
that we still look to the old school for all the advances made in
medicine.
We have furnished the profession of medicine a practical work-
ing materia medica with a law of cure to guide in the selection of
the remedy adaped to all climes and in all conditions.
This Materia Medica Pura is Hahnemann's best monument,
and the provings contained therein are as reliable as when first
published.
It is true we hear a good deal about uncertainly and unreliability
of symptoms, and no doubt there are such, but the bulk of the
symptoms are reliable and are the best means we have for restor-
ing health. All improvement and advancement in materia medica
must be in the same line as marked by Hahnemann and his dis-
ciples. The Materia Medica Pura is the model and guide for
future work, and it seems to me that the paucity of our literature
372 The Materia Medica Pur a.
as regards new provings should be remedied and more work should
be done. For surely we cannot administer a remedy according
to our law of cure without a proving.
It is the great need of our school today. Let us be awake to
our duty in this regard. Verifications of provings and reprovings
should be our life work. Let us keep adding to the work so well
begun by Hahnemann.
To use Hahnemann's own words: Thus alone can the power of
medicines on the human health be known; thus alone can their
true importance, the peculiar action of each drug, be exhibited
clearly and manifestly, without any fallacy, any deception inde-
pendent of all speculation; in their ascertained symptoms all their
curative elements lie disclosed; and among them may be found a
signalization of all the cases of disease which each fitting (spe-
cific) remedy is capable of curing.
It administers no medicines to combat the diseases of mankind
before testing experimentally their pure effects; that is, observing
what changes each can produce in the health of a healthy man —
that is pure materia medica.
What Hahnemann meant by pure needs no explanation, as a
comparison of his materia medica with all others that preceded it
shows its superiority, and its absolute necessity if medicines are to
be administered according to the method laid down in the Organo?i
of the Healing Art.
I have written this article for a double purpose — to give Hahne-
mann credit for supplying us with a dependable materia medica
and to call the attention of the profession to the practical char-
acter of the work, as in these days of " new work " we are apt to
neglect or forget the old ones.
Had Hahnemann only discovered the law of cure we would not
have fared much better than from previous authors in this line;
but he did more, he provided the means of cure.
Let us not forget the pit from whence we were dug, nor the
rock from which we were hewn. Hahnemann founded no sect in
medicine, but he improved the materia medica section of medicine
and made it a science. Neither did he set himself up as a pope,
but he gave us a catholic or universal principle to ascertain the
virtues of all remedies and how toadapt them to the cure of all
diseases. " Imitate me — but imitate exactly," were his words.
Let us continue the work he so well begun, but never let the
new remedies take the place of the old, for there are no substi-
tutes in Homoeopathy; each medicine has its place. — From Trans-
actions of Horn. Med. Society of Penna.
Suppurative Process of Middle Ear. 373
SUPPURATIVE PROCESS OF MIDDLE EAR.
Dr. E. W. Brickley, in Penna. Transactions.
In my experience as a specialist of ten years' standing it has
been almost invariably the case for me to find that eczema of the
auricle, or of the canal, is due to a perforation of the membrana
tympani. I admit that there are constitutional cases in which
there seems to be no assignable trouble in the middle ear, and I
have struck those cases, but they are comparatively rare. In the
majority that I have had to deal with there was nearly always
pn sent an otorrhcea, due to a middle ear suppurative process,
which was primarily the cause of the trouble. Therefore, the
first thing to do is to cure the middle ear trouble, and I cannot
too highly extol the use of first thoroughly cleansing; it is para-
mount to everything else. Next to that the use of the Peroxide
of hydrogen, and I prefer the Oakland Chemical Co's. The Oak-
land Chemical Co's. product seems to give me the best satisfac-
tion. Then, after allowing it to " boil," so to speak, thoroughly
syringe it with a carbolized solution of tepid water and dry the
cavity thoroughly before applying any other ointment. I lay
special stress on the drying, because in all cavities of the body
you have the one prime element of decomposition present — heat
and moisture. Dry thoroughly. And I have used with a great
deal of success a preparation of Boric acid in combination with
Calendu]a. I did at one time use the pure Boric acid, and found
that this was not so satisfactory. Calendulated Boracic acid has
no tendency to cake. Placed well up into the attic it seems to do
the work very well. My guiding symptom as regards renewing
the treatment is never to disturb that ear as long as the cotton
plug shows no evidence of discharge. I think there is more
harm done in these middle ear cases by continuing the use of a
stream of w7ater, forcibly directed against the opening which
nature has tried to heal, and which the syringe will invariably
tear further open. There is more harm done in that way than if
you allow nature to have a fair chance. If the cotton wad is not
discolored, let it severely alone. When you find the powder is
more or less under the influence of the discharge, and the cotton
shows some discoloration, then is the time to clean. If that
cotton is discolored several times a day clean your ear that many
times, and I have been able to cure cases of eczema of over eight
37ears' standing with almost total destruction of the drumhead.
374 Enlargement of the Prostatic Glands.
One man whom I cured is filling the office of associate judge in
one of the courts of Pennsylvania, and is very grateful for the
results obtained.
ENLARGEMENT OF THE PROSTATIC GLANDS
FROM ADVANCING AGE.
A whole host of homoeopathic remedies has been brought into
the campaign against this most stubborn disease, which, we may
incidentally mention, is frequently a consequence of a former at-
tack of gonorrhoea. We believe it is better to limit our medical
treasury in this campaign. Dr. Knoulton considers the leading
remedies to be Benzoic acid, Iodium and Pulsatilla. We would
foremostly recommend the use of Iodium (sometimes in the form
of Kali jo datum), since this is par excellence a glandular remedy,
and as such exercises a specific action on all glands and glandular
formations. — Monat. fuer Horn.
ANTI-MALIGNANCY OF SUPPLIED BLOOD—
ANOTHER CONCLUSIVE CASE.
By Dr. J. T. Biggs.
Sylvia T , aged 37, American. Diagnosis: Epithelioma of
upper lip of external os. Patient admitted April 9, 1901. Case
of Dr. C. The doctor informed me that he had advised an opera-
tion, but the patient positively refused to have this done. Conse-
quently, he was desirous of my employing the blood treatment.
The condition, fortunately, was not extensive, but nevertheless I
did not give a favorable prognosis. Examination showed no
apparent glandular involvement; the condition being confined, so
far as I was able to determine, to the upper lip of the external os.
The patient was put to bed; vagina thoroughly cleansed with
bovinine-and-hydrozone, followed by Thiersch irrigation. Into
the cancerous mass, after the diseased surface had been rendered
insensible by eucain injections, I injected boviniue pure in five
localities, in quantity of from five to fifteen minims. Then packed
spirally around the cervix, plain bi-sterilized gauze, soaked in
bovinine pure; had the hips elevated, and instructed the nurse to
inject bovinine upon the gauze every hour. This gauze was
Anti- Malignancy of Supplied Blood. 375
removed twice in twenty-four hours, the vagina thoroughly
cleansed and repacked.
Every fourth day I employed hypodermic injections of bovinine
pure. On entering the hospital the patient has been suffering
greatly from pain, but after the second hypodermic injection, the
pain entirely disappeared.
April 17th, examination revealed that the cancerous tissue was
separating itself from the healthy tissue. Treatment continued.
April 29th, the cancerous tissue had almost parted from the
healthy tissue, so that it was possible with long thumb forceps to
remove all, with the exception of a portion about the size of
a butter bean. This was again injected with bovinine pure, and
the vagina packed as before.
May 6th, the balance of the malignant growth came away, leav-
ing a healthy bleeding surface. The packings were discontinued
now, and the nurse instructed to give Boracic acid douches every
two hours, and follow it with injections of bovinine pure, the
patient's hips to be elevated for half an hour after the injection.
May 19th, the wound had almost entirely healed.
Ma\r 22d, the wound had entirely healed and the patient was
discharged, cured.
Coincident with the local treatment, the patient took, from the
first, a wineglassf ul of bovinine every two hours, and a very light
general diet.
This case, so far as I know, stands alone, as I never have had
one to compare with it. neither do I know of any other surgeon
who has reported a similar cases.
Within the past few months I have observed that malignant
growths will not thrive under the blood treatment, and my theory
is that the bovinine applied to the diseased surface, rapidly im-
proves the quality of the blood, thereby enabling the leucocytes
to attack and destroy the cancerous cells. As a result of the
destruction, there is a local death and a line of demarkation
forms, and finally the entire separation of the cancerous tissue.
I am greatly interested in this and shall make further and more
protracted experiments. — Modern Medical Science.
In discussing Dr. Hallock's paper on tuberculosis {Bom. Eye,
Ear and Throat Journal}.
The only successful application of Tuberculin, and, I might
add, the only improved and perfected preparation, were both
37 '6 Notes.
made by a good and true homoeopath in accordance to the law of
Homoeopathy, namely, Dr. H. C. Allen's preparation of Tuber-
culinum, properly potentized by him. This remedy I have seen
used with marked success a great many times and, together with
its helpmate, Bacillinum, it has done more to alleviate the class of
sufferers mentioned by the essayist than any or all of the much-
lauded new cures for consumption.
The entire serum therapy founded upon Koch's so-called dis-
covery is only a bold and unprincipled effort to bodily steal and
clumsily apply the law of Homoeopathy, leaving out one of its
most essential truths, viz., the proper potentizing or dynamically
developed drug action, and their remedy being crude, given in
toxic doses they met with failure, or hastened their victims into
that " great country from whose bourne no traveler ever returns."
It has, however, unwittingly been the means of giving to the
human race two invaluable remedies for the combating of this
dread scourge, — Tuberculinum and Bacillinum.
" In years gone by, the doctor was in the habit of thoroughly
selecting his remedy and by careful, exact prescribing often
achieved wonderful results; it was the great difference in the
method of prescribing and administering remedies that made such
a chasm between the two schools of medicine. Next from pow-
ders which were troublesome to put up, came a change to the
form of the compressed tablet triturate, which contained merely
the single remedy. This was undoubtedly an advance and cer-
tainly more convenient for dispensing purposes, but, alas! it was
merely the entering point of the wedge. Who does the prescrib-
ing now — the pharmacist or the doctor? In many instances I am
compelled to say the pharmacist. Why ? Because it is so much
easier to carry a stock of tablets — each of which contains at least
three different drugs — and dump a few into a vial than to think
awhile. There is very little question of selection; if the child has
laryngitis, Aconite, Kali bichromicum and Spongia — all in one tab-
let— are prescribed. This may work very well in such an in-
stance, but how about combinations as Bryonia, Rhus tox. and
Macrotin ? And there are others even worse. If Bryonia is in-
dicated, certainly Rhus cannot be at the same time. Where this
will lead is easy to foretell ; it will eventually end in the total de-
struction of our homoeopathic Materia Medica. If any one be-
Book Notices. $JJ
longing to our school is satisfied to practice this way, there is no
need of accurate stud}' of any particular symptoms, for the drug-
gist has invented a tablet which often possesses an elaborate for-
mula and which necessarily must be supposed to relieve a variety
of conditions. It is the return of the old shotgun system, in
vogue in the days of our grandfathers. It seems very pathetic
that Hahnemann should have given up his entire life and energies
to establish the greatest law of cure ever given to the world and
in so short a time after his death forces so inimical to his teach-
ings should be advancing. Now, you will readily understand that
we, as homoeopaths, must be deeply interested in this question.
When one considers that our success in practice — and the advant-
age over our brother specialist of the old school will be propor-
tionately great as our prescribing of indicated remedies is careful
and exact — will not depend upon surgical skill alone, for he also
possesses that; his materia medica resources, however, are
wretched. If you take Iodide of potassium from the old school
specialist — particularly the oculist — he is as helpless, therapeu-
tically, as a babe." — From Presidential Address of Dr. Thomas L.
Shearer, Baltimore, before Horn. 0.} O. and L. Society, Richfield
Springs.
BOOK NOTICES.
History of Medicine, A Brief Outline of Medical History
and Sects of Physicians, from the earliest historic period; with an
extended account of the new shools of the healing art in the 19th
century, and especially a History of the American Eclectic Prac-
tice ot Medicine never before published. By Alexander Wilder,
M. D. 946 pages. Cloth, $1.50. New England Eclectic Pub-
lishing Co., New Sharon, Maine. 1901.
While a considerable portion of Dr. Wilder's History is devoted
to the Eclectics, nevertheless all others receive fair treatment, and,
taken as a whole, this is the most interesting history of medicine
we ever read, and well worthy of a place in the libraries of medi-
cal scholars.
What a wonderful thing is medicine viewed historically !
Every real advance has been bitterly opposed by the orthodox,
the "regulars," by those having medical authority, and the aid
of secular power called upon to crush the innovators. After read-
378 Book Notices.
ing a history of medicine one feels that all medical Acts by legis-
lature can well be dispensed with; the truth in medicine has
enough to fight against without coming in contact with the police.
Unauthorized quackery soon dies a natural death, but legalized
error is a very shirt of Nessus.
Curability of Tumours by Medicines. By J. Compton Burnett,
M. D. Second Edition Revised.
Dr. Burnett says: "My standpoint is that a tumour is the prod-
uct of the organism, and to be really cured the power to produce
the same must be eliminated, got rid of; cutting it off merely rids
the organism of the product, leaving the producing power where
it was before, often the operative interference acting like pruning
a vine; i. e., the tumour-producing power is increased, and the
fatal issue is brought nearer." This is the keynote to his belief.
Then add his motto, "Keep pegging away," and you have the
gist of this little book. There is much of truth and instruction in
its pages and we think that all physicians would be better for having
read it. Dr. Burnett acknowledges that it is not possible to carry
out his thought in all cases, but it is demonstarted that tumours
are curable by internal medication, and what he says goes to create
a belief that very many times tumours disappear under the surgeon's
knife and sometimes carry the patient along, when they might
have been cured by the gentler and safer method of internal treat-
ment. To one who reads the work there comes the impress of
Dr. Burnett's thorough, distinct and positive belief in what he
says. It is not with him a mere theory, but an actual fact, that
tumours have been cured in many, many instances without the aid
of the knife. In this word l 'tumours' ' he includes not only benign
growths, but the malignant ones whose removal is simply the
removal of an effect with the cause still operative. — Homoeopathic
Reporter.
Index to Homoeopathic Provings. By Thomas Lindsley Brad-
ford, M. D.
Nothing that we could say in the way of commendation would
be too good for Dr. Bradford and his modest little — you wouldn't
guess the labor it costs — Index to our Provings. It is a veritable
labor of love, and should be seen in the library of every homoeo-
path in the land. It will be indispensable, indeed, to any one who
Book Notices. 379
wishes to study our Materia Medica as it should be studied. To
our mind, it is only possible to acquire an exact, clear and last-
ing impression of the sick-making powers of any drug by a personal ,
painstaking, and patient analysis of the actual records of the
provers. It is difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to gain
a knowledge of the sick-making powers of a drug from a study of
the grouped and nicely-arranged pathogenetic effects of the drug as
they may be found in most of our Materia Medicas. These group-
ings are the results of somebody else's analysis of the provings,
and the one who gains the knowledge is undoubtedly the man who
has made the analysis.
The memory of any fact or occurrnce is strengthened by as-
sociation with other facts and occurrences. Very often the as-
sociated facts are lost or not easily apparent in the analysis which
one reads in his Materia Medica. In the original provings this as-
sociation is usually preserved. Heretofore it is not always easy
to come upon the provings of the drug one wished to study in this
way; but now, thanks to our own indefatigable Bradford, it has
become an easy task. The volume has been gotten up in Boericke
& Tafel's usual excellent style — so no more need be said. — Hahne-
mannian Monthly.
Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics. Arranged and com-
piled by W. A. Dewey, M. D.
This is a neatly arranged book of 350 pages, compiled and ar-
ranged in a most practical manner. Anything which Dr. Dewey
writes is well worth reading. He is not only a scholar of the first
rank in our school but his reputation as a materia medica student
is unsurpassed. He has carefully excluded all the irrelevant
symptomatology in every remedy and only the true clinical indi-
cationsare recorded. There is so much of a confusing nature found
in many of our materia medicas that it is fortunate for the student
that we have here only that which is germane to the accurate pre-
scription. The subject matter is arranged under the head of
different diseases and for that matter it may be more convenient
for the busy practitioner. There is possibly some objection to
this arrangement, for it is not always convenient to look up a
special remedy. On the other hand the outline of symptoms is so
useful that no objection can be made to the book. Dr. Dewey is
now editor of the Medical Century and his opportunity for the
study of general medicine in the past makes him one of our best
writers. — H. V. H. in The Clinique.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM .
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
Reading what is contained in the Penna. Transactions, 1900,
about antitoxin leads one to believe that there is considerable
about this remedy that is at present unknown to its friends and
enemies. Statements can be produced ranging from "It is crimi-
nal not to use it " to the direct opposite.
One peculiar feature is the difference found in the various
makes; that so-and-so's antitoxin is all that can be desired, while
other makes are unsatisfactory.
There are several agents used in preserving the horse-serum,
and perhaps a little investigation will show that the antitoxin pre-
served by carbolic acid is the one that is satisfactory. A little
further investigation may demonstrate that a proportionate solu-
tion of carbolic acid and distilled water will do the work much
more satisfactorily than the same medical agent mixed with
animal serum. It wTould also be much cheaper.
Allen's Hand Book of Homoeopathic Materia Medica says under
Carbolic acid:
" The blood is disorganized, and haemoglobinuria results (black
urine)."
" It produces inflammation of the mucous membranes, charac-
terized by hard, shriveled membranous patches of exudation."
<l Blood black, thick."
In throat " mucous membrane came off in great patches."
l< Fauces red and covered with mucous exudation."
"Swallowing difficult, impossible."
Perhaps when the mists have cleared away it will be seen that
Carbolic acid alone was the curative element in the antitoxin. Its
homoeopathic proving certainly points that way.
Editorial. 381
The following recent letter from The Lancet, London, ought to
settle the story that has been floating around for the past thirty
years concerning the suffering of the French, and the immunity
of the German army, from small-pox during the Franco-German
war:
To the Editors of The Lancet.
Sirs: Surely a journal with the reputation of The Lancet owes some ex-
planation to its readers for reproducing in the annotation on aseptic vacci-
nation the often exposed fable regarding small-pox mortality in the French
and German armies. This statement was withdrawn by Dr. W. B. Car-
penter, who originally promulgated it in this country. Its falsity was
admitted by Lord Herschell's commission. But the marvellous comparison
keeps " popping up " again, as the old lady said of Mr. Gladstone. In 1899
Mr. Rider Haggard used it in a little lecture to a conscientious objector, and
afterwards withdrew it. The Jenner society obtained through the Foreign
Office an official statement from the French authorities on this subject. In
this the estimate that 23,400 soldiers had died from small-pox was stated (as
a little reflection would lead one to expect) to be "greatly in excess of the
reality," so greatly that the 23,400 was brought down " not to exceed 6,000."
An estimate worth little at the best has thus suffered an official abatement of
nearly 75 per cent. But the story on the authority of your review is still do-
ing service in the newest pro-vaccination literature, and The Lancet has un-
accountably given the lie one more start in this country.
I am, sirs, yours faithfully,
Alex. Paui,.
On this letter the editor of The La?icet comments as follows:
The figures escaped our attention. We regret to have published them, as
their falsity has been established. — Editor of The Lancet.
Those editors who have used these figures should reprint the
above in the interest of truth and for the advancement of science.
A REMARKABLE CASE OF CHLOROSIS CURED
BY PHYSIOLOGICAL TONICUM (HENSEL.)
Mt. Morris, Pa., July 10, 1901.
Messrs. Boericke & Tafel:
Miss W., age, 18 dressmaker, came to me August 14, 1900,
with all the symptoms of Chlorosis in an aggravated form; some
of which are as follows: Extreme pallor of the face, shortness of
breath. Pulse 120. Irritable stomach. Complete loss of appe-
tite. Constipated bowels. Menses lasted one day and without
color. A very severe periodical neuralgic headache, almost un-
bearable, etc.
382 Editorial.
The case dated back one year. Had taken treatment from
various {Old School) M. D.'s, but to no effect. I prescribed what
I thought to be the indicated remedy for some time, with little, if
any, improvement. In my anxiety to relieve the case overlooked
Phys. Tonicum and gave her Gude's Pepto-Mangan, of which she
took four bottles, without (strange to say) the slightest improve-
ment whatever. On February 28, 1901, I put her on Phys.
Tonicum, three doses a day in sweetened water, and at the end of
one week improvement was readily perceptible. She continued
the Tonicum until May 1st, when she left our village, but still
took the treatment as before. I just received a letter from her
dated July 9, 1901, in which she says: " Do you think it neces-
sary for me to take any more medicine? I am feeling fine. Ner-
vous headache all gone. My complexion, while not rosy, is
wonderfully improved. Don't have that tired feeling any more.
Menses normal, last four days with a natural color. Appetite;
wrell, I am hungry all the time, and nothing hurts my stomach. I
sleep extra good wmen it isn't too hot, etc."
I consider this case remarkable for the following reasons:
1 st. The duration and severity of the symptoms.
2d The total resistance to all ordinary and considerable extra-
ordinary treatment.
3d. The prompt and continued improvement and complete re-
covery with Physiological Tonicum
Yours respectfully,
G. M. Bradford, M. D.
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 23, 1901.
Editor Homoeopathic Recorder:
The fire of July 16th in Pulte Medical College, of Cincinnati,
was due to crossed electric light wires in one of the laboratories.
The damage done was covered by insurance, and repairs to build-
ing, apparatus, instruments and equipment will be completed in
ample time for the opening of Pulte on October 2d.
Thomas M. Stewart, Seeretary.
" Every drug firm that prepares and sells our remedies sends
out its price lists, and, what is still more, sends out agents who
have the name of every recent graduate who has opened up a new
Editorial. 383
office. I will not say that every one of these agents will, for the
purpose of making a sale, state that which is untrue, or even that
he will exaggerate, but they somehow have a way of insinuating
certain things that has its effect upon the younger physicians. I
want to repeat again my experience with one of these agents who
came to my office and stated to me that Dr. Macomber, of At-
lantic, and Dr. Dickinson, of Iowa City, twTo of the oldest and
best known physicians of the State, bought his compound tablets
in pound packages. I asked him if by Dr. Dickinson he meant
the Dean of the University, and he replied that he did. I stepped
to the telephone, called for No. 206, stated the facts to Dr. Dick-
inson, and asked him what he had to say. He (Dickinson) re-
plied that it was a lie; he never had ordered, much less used,
compound tablets. Several of my own students have written me,
asking if it were true that I was using the compound tablets of a
certain firm, stating that their agent had told them he sold me a
pound package, which showed how extensively I used them.
When they expressed some doubt as to the statement, he pulled
out an order book, where there was, under a certain date, that
amount put down to my order. Not being satisfied even at that
they wrote me. It is useless to say that I knew nothing whatever
of the agent. It is this fact of misrepresentation, which secures
heavy sales and the frequent use of these tablets, that makes so
serious a drawback to the progress of our Materia Medica." — Dr.
Geo. Royal i?i Medical Century for July.
A SIMPLE TEST FOR MILK.
The importance of having proper milk for the children can be
appreciated, as one-fifth of the deaths among babies can be traced
to the milk supply. Sickness among children in summer is gen-
erally traceable to the food.
Normal milk is neutral in reaction, or varies but slightly from
neutral. Milk that comes from diseased cows is very frequently
alkaline in reaction, or will become so in a short time after it is
produced. Milk that has undergone fermentation will very
quickly become acid in reaction. These facts can be readily de-
termined by testing with a piece of litmus paper, which can be
procured at a very slight cost from any chemist. If it is alkaline
in reaction, the red litmus paper will be turned blue; if it is acid
in reaction, the blue litmus paper will be turned red; if is normal,
neither paper will be changed in color. — Health.
PERSONALS.
Soon we will turn a kindly thought to those hot days ! When the grippe
weather has its inning.
A gentleman explained that he was confined to the house for several
months on account of a bad attack of kleptomania.
She asked how the weather men found out what kind of weather we were
to have, and he replied, " They don't."
Nothing like a tailor for pressing a suit.
Also a square man is the best all- 'round man.
A theatrical star is always satisfied with a full house. Yet a friend of ours
says it can be bettered.
FOR SALE. A long-established homoeopathic, $2,000 practice will
be given to purchaser of $2,000 residence in Central
Illinois R. R. town of 5,000; part on time. Successor introduced. A big
bargain. Good reasons for selling. Address: Z. Y. Crane, Decatur, 111.
Many a man loses his grip after the grip.
The definition of "fool "is very difficult; every man, probably has been so
termed by some one.
The barber thinks that the man who shaves himself has a fool for a
barber. It's so in all professions.
Dr. T. F. Allen's papers in the Recorder were translated into nearly all
the foreign journals.
Dr. F. Mortimer Lawrence has about completed an excellent work on
modern practice.
A goat is " nearly," they say, because he is " all-butt."
" It is necessary for the mother to lie on her right side, if there should be
a male birth." Goswami.
"A hen can make more trouble bstween neighbors than any other ani-
mal." Village Philosopher.
The neck can turn anyone's head.
No, Mary, schools of fish have no teachers.
Coal tar derwatives, they say, enable a man to die with a mormal tem-
perature.
" I will give consumption one funny soak and we will have no more tuber-
culosis in New York." So the head of the health board is reported.
Yes, Mary, when a dog's bark is 011 the sea so is the dog.
The man who stubs his toe or steps on a tack does not believe (for the
time being) in the proverb, " Think before you speak."
THE
Homeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa. September, 1901. No. 9
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Sixteenth Annual Session.
(Year 1859.)
The sixteenth annual session of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in Boston, Mass., in Mercantile Hall, on
Sumner street, being called to order by the General Secretary, W.
E. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., on Wednesday, June 1, 1859.
P. P. Wells, M. D., of Brooklyn, N. Y., was elected President;
Henry D. Paine, M. D., of Albany, N. Y., General Secretary; I.
T. Talbot, M. D., of Boston, Mass., Provisional Secretary, and
C. H. Skiff, M. D., of New Haven, Conn., Treasurer.
The Board of Censors was N. H. Warner, M. D., Buffalo, N.
Y.; W. H. Watson, M. D., Utica, N. Y.; D. M. Dake, M. D.,
Pittsburg, Pa.; J. Beakley, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; M. Fuller,
M. D., Boston, Mass.
On taking the chair Dr. Wells delivered a brief and graceful
acknowledgment of the honor conferred upon him and then an-
nounced the following committees:
L. B. Wells, M. D., Utica, N. Y.; E. T. Richardson, M. D.,
Brooklyn, N. Y.; B. F. Bowers, M. D., New York, N. Y. ; J. P.
Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa., and G. W. Swazey, M. D., Spring-
field, Mass., on Treasurer's account.
W. Williamson, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; D. M. Dake, M. D.,
Pittsburg, Pa., and B. F. Joslin, M. D. , New York, N. Y., on
Scientific Subjects.
J. Beakley, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; H. D. Paine, M. D.,
386 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Albany, N. Y.; S. Gregg, M. D., Boston, Mass.; J. Mairs, M.
D., New York, N.Y., and W.Williamson, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa.,
as a Memorial Committee to prepare appropriate notices by which
to honor the memory of Dr. A. Gerald Hull, and other members
who had died during the year.
The unfinished business was next in order. Dr. Isaac Colby's
paper on " Cold as a Therapeutic Agent " was read and laid upon
the table for subsequent consideration.
Dr. W. E. Payne's proposed amendment to the Constitution and
By-Laws was postponed on account of the Doctor's temporary
absence.
Samuel S. Guy, M. D., presented the Treasurer's report, which
was referred, with its vouchers, to the Auditing Committee.
At this session of the Institute the following fifty-four new
members were elected, N. H. Warner, M. D., Chairman of the
Board of Censors, having reported their credentials correct and
satisfactory :
Henry Beakley, M. D., Brewster's Station, N. Y. ; Albert G.
Bellows, M. D., Roxbury, Mass.; Charles A. Brooks, M. D.,
Clinton, Mass.; William E. Bulkley, M. D., Danbury, Conn.;
John A. Burpee, M. D., Maiden, Mass.; Charles H. Burr, M.
D., Portland, Me.; William B. Chamberlain, M. D., Keene, N.
H.; William J. Church, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; John L. Clark,
M. D., Fall River, Mass.; Charles Cullis, M. D., Boston, Mass.;
E. P. Cummings, M. D., Exeter, N. H.; B. De Gersdorff, M.
D., Salem, Mass.; George Wm. Dennett, M. D., Boston, Mass.;
Hosea B. Eaton, M. D., Rockport, Me.; Charles H. Farnsworth,
M. D., East Cambridge, Mass.; H. Floto, M. D., Salem, Mass.;
Stephen M. Gale, M. D., Newburyport, Mass.; J. Fitz Gibbon
Geary, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; George A. Hall, M. D., West-
field, N. Y.; W. F. Harding, M. D., Granville, X. Y.; John T.
Harris, M. D., Abington, Mass.; Stanislas Herwitz, M. D.,
Boston, Mass.; C. Judson Hill, M. D., Utica, N. Y.; H. A.
Houghton, M. D., Keeseville, N. Y.; M. G. Houghton, M. D.,
Lyndon, Vt.; Bushrod W\ James, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.;
George P. Jefferts, M. D., Kennebunkport, Me.; David A.
Johnson, M. D., Chelsea, Mass.; J. E. Linnell, M. D., Worcester,
Mass.; G. Felix Mathes, M. D., New Bedford, Mass.; E. E.
Morse, M. D., Cambridge, Mass.; Charles Munde, M. D., Flor-
ence, Mass.; John S. Nichols, M. D., Woonsocket, R. I.; L. B.
Nichols, M. D., Worcester, Mass.; I. C. Neilsou, M. D., Charles-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 387
town, Mass.; F. H. Orme, M. D., Savannah, Ga. ; R. G. Per-
kins, M. D., New York, X. Y.; Levi Pierce, M. D., Francistown,
N. H.; L. M. Pratt, M. D., Albany, X. Y. ; D. S. Richards, M.
D., Richmond, Me.; O. S. Sanders, M. D., Boston, Mass.; C.
F. Saunders, M. D.*, Waltham, Mass.; Thomas S. Scales, M. D.,
Woburn, Mass.; John H. Sherman, M. D., Xantucket, Mass.;
Alvin Shattuck, M. D., Buffalo, X. Y.; G. E. E. Sparhawk, M.
D., Gaysville, Vt.; C. E. Spencer, M. D., New Bedford, Mass.;
W. E. Thompson, M. D., Dover, N. H.; Benjamin Weeks, M.
D., South Boston, Mass.; Conrad Wesselhoeft, M. D., Dorchester,
Mass.; William P. Wesselhoeft, M. D., Boston, Mass.; Edward
A. Wild, M. D., Brookline, Mass.; G. H. Wilson, M. D., West
Meriden, Conn.; John Harvey Woodbury, M. D., East Boston,
Mass.
Joseph V. Hobson, M. D., Richmond, Va., also made applica-
tion, which was slightly defective; but after some discussion it
wTas decided that he should be elected if he exhited a diploma or
certificate that he was a legal practitioner.
Dr. Payne's proposed amendment was again taken up in the
afternoon meeting, but after lengthy argument by Drs. Joslin,
Foote, Gregg, Gray, Hempel, McManus and Swazey, it was
again laid upon the table.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., from the Central Bureau, presented a ma-
jority report, in which the subject of provings, and the great care
required in conducting and recording them, was discussed.
Chas. J. Hempel, M. D., gave a minority report dissenting
from the other in regard to the use of attenuations in provings.
Both were referred to the Publishing Committee for publication
in the Proceedings.
The majority report included two resolutions, which after some
debate were adopted:
Resolved, That the ninth By-LawT be amended by adding thereto
the following words: " And it shall be the duty of each member
of this Bureau to select a certain medicine for proving, the symp-
toms of which he will arrange, indicating the number of provers
by which each symptom is verified.' '
Resolved, That anjr members of the Institute who ma}' have or
make provings of any drug are requested to send the same to
some member of the Bureau of Materia Medica, who may have
the same in charge.
388 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
Dr. Hempel moved an additional resolution, which was also
adopted:
Resolved, That it be made a part of the instructions to the
Central Bureau to preserve the record of the original symptomatic
groups in every proving.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., from the Central Bureau presented prov-
ings of Rumex crispus, which were accepted and ordered printed
in the Proceedings.
Drs. W. E. Payne and B. F. Joslin, both of the Central Bureau,
reported provings of Polyganum punctatum, which were accepted
and ordered printed.
D. M. Dake, M. D., made a report on Combi?ied Potencies y
which was read, accepted and laid on the table for future con-
sideration.
Dr. J. P. Dake's report on Water as a Therapeutic Agent was
read, accepted and ordered to be published.
G. W. Swazey, M.D., appointed to write on Medical Dy?iamicst
asked for further time, which was granted.
I. M. Ward, M. D., on Mechanical Supports in the Treatment
of Disease, having requested, by letter, to defer his report until
next year, was allowed to do so.
Geo. E. Shipman, M. D., on Parasites in Connection with Dis-
ease, was absent, bnt as he was reported to be working on the
subject he was continued.
E. A. Guilbert, M. D., on Chest Diseases, their Diagnosis and
Treatment, made no report but the extent and importance of his
subject induced the Institute to extend his time until next year.
At eight o'clock in the evening a large assembly listened to the
address of S. S. Guy, M. D., in place.of F. R. McManus, M. D.,
whose ill health prevented his performing that duty. Dr. Guy's
subject wTas "A Theory of Disease," and his address was a
learned, discursive and peculiarly impressive one.
He first called attention to man in his threefold character,
moral, living, organized, in regard to the provisions provided to
maintain these characteristics. The subject being theoretical, Dr.
Guy did not ask the Institute, or its members, to endorse his
views, and requested also that no one would suppose that his ideas
were suggested by Spiritualism. He then defined life and death —
generic life and spiritual life — and their relations to the world as
prepared \>y the great Architect. Then speaking of man as the
(inhumation of creation he said we would assume that at first man
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 389
was a complete moral and spiritual image of his Creator. He fell
from this high estate and became subject to pain and affliction.
How he fell, and by what means he can be restored, was the true-
line of this discourse. First, the soul, which seems to be divided into
thought and feeling, and holds sway over all other attributes Dr.
Guy then traced the downfall of man as shown in the Scriptures.
He followed, step by step, temptation handed down from genera-
tion until even holy men, as St. Paul, cried out against the almost
insurmountable barrier to purity of living. All would have
fallen absolutely, but for an innate faculty which we call con-
science. This is man's God-given umpire that makes his control
over himself almost absolute, providing he follows its dictates.
Thus the power of temptation has its limitation if a man so wills,
and the soul is proven to be the dominant part of man. The
body is next in importance. The brain and nervous system, as a
whole, are the residing place of the soul, the brain alone is the
home of the mind, the circulating system contains the blood and
in this is generated the animal spirit. All other parts of the body
are but subservient to these three principles in man. He spoke
of the relation of these three to each other and their control each
over the others. He defined life, the great central, controlling
medium of the whole man, following the Scriptural definition,
which names it blood, the scientific, which names it animal spirit,
and this latter he said was described by an eminent writer as a
certain pure fluid that enters into the red blood and gives it vital
essence. He explained how the spirit, or rather the soul, must
be fed by pure ethereal food as the body must be nourished by
more solid and tangible fare, while the animal spirit, or vital fluid
in the blood w7as a source of communication between the soul and
the corporeal part or body. This intermediary is also fed by in-
tangible food. Is it ether, electricity, magnetism, or what? It is
approachable only by such, and all, the pure soul, the clear spirit,
the life itself, is under the control of the body. Dr. Guy then de-
scribed the blood scientifically and showed how without it there
could be no physical life. The soul being immortal he suggested
that the animal spirit was also imperishable and that it was the
substance from which the resurrected body would spring at the
last day. He asked then if it might not be possible that there is
communication between the living and the disembodied spirits of
the departed.
Sin, he said, came from disobedience and disobedience is the
39° American Institute of Homoeopathy.
refusal of the spirit to obey the laws of God or man. This dis-
obedience has brought disease into the world. The body suffers,
but without the animal spirit it is but clay; therefore it has pain
and affliction, but the spirit brought them upon it. He said no one
could tell why one medicine was benign and another poisonous.
Yet the facts are irrefutable. Then he theorized upon infinites-
imal doses of drugs as more consistent, because they could easier
enter into the animal life that is the .source of health or illness.
Taking the theory that disease is truly the result of spiritual
action, the physician must then bring such remedies into play as
will purify the animal spirit and thus restore the body to health.
In the meantime the soul and spirit should be fed with all
that is pure and free from deleterious matter. When all is ac-
complished, when the spirit is so fed with material to cure the
body and the soul is likewise refreshed, when both moral and
physical science culminate in a perfectly harmonious action
toward aiding the soul, the spirit and the body to make man a re-
generated human existence, bearing as it did at first the image of
his Creator, then will science have accomplished its great work.
And who will say it is impossible ?
In Dr. Guy's peculiar and apparently Spiritualistic address we
find the simple moral of pure living, clear conscience and perfect
sanitary surroundings.
After the address the Institute continued its business.
Dr. Hempel moved to re-consider the votes for publishing the
various reports, mooting the question of the Institute's endorse-
ment of the views expressed by the different committees. He
objected to matter being published in the proceedings which
would allow any reflection upon the theories of the general pro-
fession, which should only be advanced by individuals. After
discussions by Drs. Foote, Reed and Hempel in favor of the
motion, and Drs. J. P. Dake, Guy, Denison, Gray and Joslin
against it, the meeting adjourned without taking a vote.
On Thursday morning, at nine o'clock, the meeting was called
to order by the President.
E. T. Foote, M. D., began business by offering two reso-
lutions, which after considerable argument were adopted.
Resolved, That the introduction or discussion of theological
questions in addresses or reports before this Society is foreign to
the purposes for which the Institute was organized and ought not
to be tolerated.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 391
Resolved, That while the medical opinion of members of this
Society is in harmony with the principles avowed in the Consti-
tution, and the discussion of questions strictly medical is desir-
able, and should be encouraged, yet the theological opinions of its
members were known to be diverse at the time of its organization,
and this is not the legitimate ground for their avowal or discus-
sion.
T. W. Donovan, M. D., to whom was referred the subject of
Intermittent Fevers, asked for a continuance of his time, when he
would be ready with a complete report upon that subject, and
also upon Diabetes, which had been assigned to him. His re-
quest was granted.
N. H. Warner, M. D., appointed to report on the Influence of
Bi-carbonate of Potassa, Tartrate of Potassa, and Carbonate of
Soda in Articles of Diet ; and W. H. Watson, M. D., on Phthisis
Pulmonalis , were both granted longer time at their request.
Drs. W. Williamson, D. M. Dake, and B. F. Joslin were ap-
pointed a committee on the time and place of next meeting, and
proposed Cincinnati and Philadelphia to the Institute, when it
was decided to hold the meeting in Philadelphia on the first
Wednesday in June, i860.
A communication was received from the Chicago Homoeopathic
Society, which was read and placed on file with accompanying
documents. A report from the Massachusetts Homoeopathic
Society was also read and ordered to be printed.
Bushrod W. James, M. D., presented a report of the medical
and surgical cases treated in the Philadelphia Northern Home for
Friendless Children, which was read and ordered printed. In
this report the doctor gave a very striking example of the supe-
riority of homoeopathic medicine and treatment.
The committee, appointed by the President, for making ar-
rangements for the next meeting, was Drs. J. Beakley, F. Sims,
A. H. Ashton, R. Gardiner and W. A. Reed.
The President also appointed F. R. McManus, M. D., of Balti-
more, Md. , to deliver the address at the next annual meeting,
and W. W. Rodman, M. D., of Waterbury, Conn., as his alter-
nate.
The Chairman announced the Central Bureau as standing the
same as last year — Drs. B. F. Joslin, W. E. Payne, M. J. Rhees,
E. Bayard and C. J. Hempel.
Lyman Clary, M. D., from the committee to investigate the
392 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
case of Dr. F. R. Moore, of Pittsburg, Pa., who was expelled for
alleged unprofessional conduct, reported that after careful inves-
tigation, and after certain palliating circumstances and explana-
tions by Dr. Moore, and his regret that there had been any
foundation for the fault found with him, the committee were
unanimously in favor of restoring him to membership. The re-
port was agreed to, the doctor re-instated and the Secretary
directed to notify him of the action of the Institute.
F. W. Skiles M. D., of Pittsburg, presented an article on
Eclecticis?n which was read and filed.
H. D. Paine, M. D., read an account of the Sore Throat Epi-
demic that had prevailed in Albany during the winter and spring,
which, at the suggestion of Prof. J. R. Cox, was taken up for
consideration.
A discussion arose upon the subject between Drs. Donovan,
Gregg, Hempel, Joslin, McManus and others, after which the
communication was turned over to the publishing committee to be
printed in the Proceedings.
S. M. Cate, M. D., of Augusta, Me., made a communication
on A Form of hiflammation of the Stomach, which was read and
ordered to be printed.
W. K. Payne, M. D., of Bath, Me., read the history of an
obstinate and protracted case of Secondary Syphilis and its suc-
cessful treatment, which was directed to be printed.
F. R. Moore, M. D., of St. Louis, Mo., sent a communication
on Mixed Potencies, which was accepted and ordered to be filed.
J. A. Ward, M. D., presented a memorial from certain phy-
sicians in New York, which was read, printed and acted upon.
The paper referred to the establishment of a journal which
should be exclusively devoted to the one law of cure, the homoeo-
pathic Similia Similibus Curentur, and proposed that this journal
should be under the patronage of the Institute, and all other true
homoeopathic societies. The paper was signed by thirty- four
prominent physicians.
On motion, the memorial was referred to a committee consist-
ing of Drs. J. R. Coxe, Samuel Gregg and B. F. Joslin.
Mr. Henry M. Smith, editor of the American Homoeopathic Re-
view, gave a statement of the reason for starting the journal, and
a synopsis of its objects, asking for the co-operation of all homoeo-
pathic physicians in furnishing important papers for publication
in its columns.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 393
The Secretary read a letter from Dr. Piper, of Washington, D.
C, stating that he had been asked for copies of the Proceedings
of the Institute for the Smithsonian Institution. The Secretary
was requested to procure a complete set of the publications of the
Institute, and present the same to the Smithsonian Institute.
Geo. W. Swazey, M. D., offered two resolutions, the first of
which, after considerable discussion by Drs. Guy, McManus,
Richardson, Paine, Reed and Swazey, was altered, and both were
then adopted. They were:
Resolved, "That in the case of such papers ordered for publica-
cation as are objectionable on account of their length, the Pub-
lishing Committee may, with the consent of the authors, abbre-
viate the same, or suspend the publication thereof until otherwise
instructed." And
Resolved, "That the Publishing Committee may prefix to any
paper or communication published in the Transactions such head-
ing or remarks as a regard for the character of this Institute as a
body of true homceopathists may render expedient or necessary.
J. R. Coxe, M. D., from the Committee on the Memorial from
the Physicians in New York, presented a report dated Boston,
June 2, 1859, in which it was
Resolved, 1. "That we sympathize with and approve of the
views of the memorialists, and order their communication to be
printed with our Proceedings."
2. " That we appoint a committee of three who shall publish
our papers in accordance with our instructions, and hold their
appointment for one year. ' '
3. " That we accept the polite offer of Mr. Smith, editor of the
American Homoeopathic Review, to this extent, that our Publish-
ing Committee be instructed to issue in his periodical such papers
as they may deem proper of those ordered on file by the Institute,
and all such reports of Scientific Committees as have usually been
read at our meetings "
4. " That the Committee on Scientific Subjects be requested to
pass their reports into the hands of the Publishing Committee, so
that they may be published at least two months before the meet-
ing of the Institute, at which they are to be considered."
5. "That Mr. Smith be requested to place the names of our
Publishing Committee on the title page of his Review."
(Signed) John Redman Coxe, Jr., M. D.,
B. F. Joslin, M. D.,
Samuel Gregg, M. D.
394 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
The report was accepted and resolutions adopted.
The Chair then appointed as the Publishing Committee, pro-
vided for in the second resolution, B. F. Joslin, M. D., and E. E.
Marcy, M. D., of New York, and J. Beakley, M. D., of Phila-
delphia.
Letters were received from members, some complaining of the
action of the Institute regarding the collection of alleged arrear-
ages. Some said that they had not been notfied of their indebted-
ness, and others that they did not owe the amount charged to
them. After some controversy it was
Resolved, " That the names of those members who refuse to
pay their dues be stricken from the roll." And,
Resolved, ' ' That the Secretary be directed to withhold the Pro-
ceedings of the Institute from members who neglect to pay their
dues, according to the resolution adopted June 5, 1S56."
B. F. Joslin, M. D., offered as a standing resolution, which was
adopted: " That in all publications of the Institute whenever at-
tenuations, dilutions or potencies are mentioned, the centessimal
scale is implied unless a different scale is expressed."
L. B. Wells, M. D., from the Committee on Treasurer's Ac-
Count, reported account and vouchers all correct.
Dr. McManus requested to be excused from acting upon the
Committee to prepare a suitable diploma, and Prof. W. A. Reed
was appointed to fill his place.
Dr. Isaac Colby's communication on Cold as a Therapeutic
Agent, was discussed and passed over to the Publishing Com-
mittee, as was Dr. D. M. Dake's report on Mixed Potencies.
J. P. Dake, M. D., offered a resolution, " That a committee of
one be appointed to solicit, from the different railroads, tickets at
reduced fare for members attending the next meeting. The reso-
lution was adopted unanimously, and Dr. Dake appointed as the
committee.
Dr. W. Williamson, from the committee to select subjects for
consideration at the next meeting, reported the following:
"Medical Education," D. M. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.;
" Stomatitis Materna," R. Eudlam, M. D., Chicago, 111.; "Bi-
carbonate of Potassa, Tartrate of Potassa, and Carbonate of Soda
as Articles of Diet," N. H. Warner, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y.;
"Diphtheria," H. D. Paine, M. D., Albany, N. Y. ; "Inter-
mittent Fever," T. W. Donovan, M. D., Quarantine, N. Y.;
" Determination of Medical Truths," W. A. Reed, M. D., Phila-
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 395
delphia, Fa.; "Pareira Brava," S. M. Cate, M. D., Augusta, Me.;
" x\uscultation and Percussion and their Therapeutic Relations,"
I. T. Talbot, M. D., Boston, Mass.; "Croup," W.E.Payne, M-
D., Bath, Me.; " Anaesthesia in Midwifery," S. S. Guy, M. D.,
Chancellorville, Va.; " Medical Dynamics," G. W. Swazey, M.
D., Springfield, Mass.; "Diseases of the Eye," J. A. Tarbell,
M D., Boston, Mass.; " Ulceration of the Mucous Membrane,"
Richard Gardiner, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; "Relation of Pa-
thology to Therapeutics," Daniel Holt, M. D., Lowell, Mass.;
"Phthisis Pulmonalis," W. H. Watson, M. D., Utica, X. Y.;
"Diabetes," T. W. Donovan, M. D., Qarantine, N. Y. ; "Me-
chanical Supports in the Treatment of Diseases," J. M. Ward,
M. D., Newark, N. J.; " Parasites in Connection with Disease,"
G. E. Shipman, M. D., Chicago, 111.
B. F. Joslin, M. D., of the Central Bureau, reported the follow-
ing medicines had been selected for provings:
Rumex crzspus, B. F. Joslin, M. D.; Chimaphila umbellata, M.
J. Rhees, M. D.; Inula campana, E. Bayard, M. D.; Glonoine
W. E. Payne, M. D.; Linaria Canadensis, C. J. Hempel, M. D.
The members of the Institute generally were requested to take
part in the provings and report either to the Chairman or some
other member of the Bureau.
Prof. Beakley proposed Mr. J. T. S. Smith, of New York, a
Pharmaceutist, as an honorary member, but Dr. McManus opposed
because the constitution did not contemplate the admission of
honorary members, and he was supported by the President. The
proposal was therefore laid upon the table.
Dr. Guy gave notice that at the next meeting he would propose
an amendment to the constitution to the effect that homoeopathic
pharmacists should be admitted as honorary members.
Dr. Donovan offered a resolution, which was adopted, to the
effect: " That a collection of well-digested clinical facts being of
importance to the interests of Homoeopathy, the members of this
Institute are requested to furnish the committees appointed to
report on medical subjects with an abstract of such cases of im-
portance occurring in their experience as relate to any of those
designated subjects, and that the publication of the same is author-
ized, provided it can be effected without subjecting the Institute
to pecuniary responsibility."
On motion of F. R. McManus, M. D., the thanks of the Insti-
tute were unanimously voted to the Chairman, P. P. Wells, M. D.,
396 The Old Man of the Sea.
for the able and impartial 111 inner in which he presided during the
session.
Similar votes were given the late Secretaries and Treasurer for
their faithful services.
The Secretaries and Treasurer were appointed a Committee of
Publication to attend to the printing of the Proceedings of this
meeting, after which the Institute adjourned to meet in Philadel-
phia on the first Wednesday of June, i860.
At four o'clock on Thursday afternoon a grand dinner was
given in honor of the members of the Institute, on invitation of
the Massachusetts Homoeopathic Medical Society and the Boston
Academy of Homoeopathic Medicine, in the banquet room of
Faneuil Hall.
The hall was beautifully decorated and a band of music gave
added pleasure to the guests, who did full justice to the sumptu-
ous repast. The meeting was presided over by Dr. Charles Wild,
of Brooklyn. Rev. Dr. Hinckley, of Lowell, asked the Divine
blessing on the feast, and an hour or two was spent in enjoying
the viands and the brilliant conversation ol the many partakers of
the banquet.
Speeches were delivered by Dr. Wild as President, and Drs. P.
P. Wells, Samuel Gregg and Winslow Lewis; Charles B. Hall,
Esq., Hon. Jacob Sleeper, and Hon. Thomas Russell, Hon.
Frederick W. Lincoln. Jr., Mayor of Boston, Rev. Thomas Starr
King and Professors Chas. J Hempel and Wm A. Reed.
George W. Pettes, Esq., recited a humorous poem, written for
the occasion. The entertainment culminated in the evening in a
grand levee, with a supper at 11 o'clock. Between the delicious
fare, the lovely music and the beautiful surroundings the enjoy-
ment was complete and none who were present could ever forget
the pleasant closing of the Sixteenth Session of the American In-
stitute of Homoeopathy in Boston, 1859.
THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA.
By T. L. Bradford, M. D.
My Dear Classmate:
Do you remember the story in the Arabian Nights about that
clinging person, The Old Man of the Sea ? How one Sindbad the
Sailor, meeting the Old Man on the bank of a river, was in-
duced by the kindness of his heart to take him up pick-a-back to
The Old Man of the Sea. 397
carry him across the stream. How, when they "reached the other
side, Sindbad, silly fool, " stooped that he might get off with the
greater ease," but instead of doing so he (the Old Man) clasped
his legs nimbly about Sindbad' s neck. And Sindbad could not
shake him off, and for days he stuck and stuck and stuck. You
see he intended to strangle the too confiding sailor. But Sind-
bad wTas a shrewd fellow and so he prepared a gourd and in it he
placed the juice of grapes. He says: " I drank heartily, which
raised my spirits, and I began to sing and dance as I walked
along." The old man wanted, and got some, and it made him
careless in his hold, and so Sindbad wTas able to throw him off and
crush his head with a stone.
Do you know, my friend, that odd product of modern medical
practice, known as the pharmaceutical chemist, seems to bear the
same relation to the doctor as the Old Man of the Sea did to Sind-
bad. Mr. Pharmaceutical Chemist has got on the back of Mr.
Doctor and Mr. Doctor can't coax, shake nor frighten him off; he
has arrived and I greatly fear that unless he bamboozles Mr.
Chemist in some way and makes him loose his hold after a time
there will be no more Doctor, only Mr. Pharmaceutical Chemist.
What is a pharmaceutical chemist ? Is it possible you have
not seen one; dear, dear, wmere are you that the Chemist has not
nosed you out ? He's got a nose for a doctor like a bloodhound
for a Southern nigger.
Well, a pharmaceutical chemist, my son, is an oleaginous, Oily
Gammon sort of a man, a logical result of the medical Science
(big S) of the day. He is a modern product; an echo from Coal
Oil Johnny and other wonders of the petroleum fields of Penn-
sylvania. Without Petroleum your modern pharmaceutical
chemist would indeed be lost, as all the elaborations of his mas-
terly skill are but combinations, labelled with queer names that
he has wrung from the unoffending coal tar. There does not
seem to be any reason for making these compounds — except to
glorify and enrich the chemist. It is very primitive medicine, as
experimental as that of the Island of Coos.
Now this pharmaceutical chemist was thus evolved. One day
a discontented druggist sat behind the loop-holed partition divid-
ing the soda water, cigars, patent medicines, face powders, fly
paper, and telephone box from the prescription room, devoted to
checkers, euchre, cigar smoking, and lounging doctors, and in-
cidentally, to the compounding of accurately and carefully dispensed
398 The Old Man of the Sea.
prescriptio7is. And the heart of the discontented druggist was
sad, for a fellow druggist had got a larger bulk window and a
bigger colored water globe in it, and his wife -had got bigger
diamonds, and children had better clothes. And as he mused in
the twilight an inspiration came to him — Eureka! And as all
great discoveries are the result of accident, so in this case. The
kereosene can was the nearest analyzable thing, else might the
world have been forever deprived of the wonderful coal tar prod-
ucts. But he set the machinery of his alembic and the brilliance
of his brain at work on a modicum of kerosene. And like an
Arabian alchemist after the philosopher's stone, he chemically
tortured that coal tar until after various failures he succeeded in
producing a substance that he called an active principle, and he
named it with a wondrous name, and he concocted for it a formula,
and then he wTrote down the diseases it ought to cure, and said it
would cure them. And then he got an unsuccessful doctor and
equipped him with a fine new gripsack, and in that gripsack were
placed sample bottles of the great discovery, samples for the pro-
fession, and little pamphlets, and picture calendars, and paper
weights with the name of the discovery blown into them in big
letters. And he sent his doctor out into the world to call on the
doctors who could earn a living at their profession, and told him to
convince the doctors that he knew more about their business than
they did themselves. And the chemist waxed rich, and his
borders were increased. Soon another discontented druggist dis-
covered something, and soon another, and another; and there
was more torture by fire of the coal tar, and more discoveries. It
was not enough that the coal tar had given to the world light
and fuel, and aniline dyes for dress stuffs, and candy, and snow
balls, and other delicacies for children. From its protean changes
new compounds were evolved. And these were bottled in gor-
geousnessand labelled in gilt and fine print, and soon the land was
filled with oleaginous and persistent gentlemen with gripsacks,
who walked up and down among the doctors; and in their grip-
sacks there were samples of the coal tar compounds and much
explanatory literature.
And one da)' a lazy doctor saw a sample on his desk where a
knight of the gripsack had left it, and it promised so much, and
he did not know7 what to give the patient anyhow, and so he gave
that, audit was an "analgesic" and stupified the patient and
took away his pain, and the patient thought and said he was bet-
The Old Man of the Sea. 399
ter. Then, shortly, the doctor wrote letters to the medical jour-
nals and gave testimonials to the parmaceutical men regarding
the remarkable cure, and other lazy doctors used the medicine.
And the pharmacutical chemist waxed rich and built himself a
big house, *and bought his wife more diamonds, and his boys and
girls went to a fashionable school, and he sent out more peri-
patetists with gripsacks and samples, and pictures, and blotters,
as sops for the vanity of the lazy doctors. And when the lazy
doctor had a case that really needed careful discrimination, did
he study it up? Not he; it was so much easier to use one of
the ubiquitous samples upon his desk — for by this time samples
dropped down on the doctor like manna for the children of Israel
in the desert. Everyday some facile-tongued pharmaceutical
colporteur appeared, and the doctor's desk was littered with —
Samples great and samples small,
Samples short and samples tall,
Samples pink and samples white,
Samples dark and samples light,
Samples green and samples red,
Some in gelatine, some in lead,
Mostly hydrous, but some in pills;
Each one sure to cure all ills.
And so it has come about that the Old Man of the Sea Pharma-
cist having gotten upon the credulous back of lazy Doctor Sindbad
sticks there, and the doctor is so much a slave to the pharmacist
that he can hardly write a prescription for the diarrhoea without
putting a proprietary medicine in it.
There has never seemed to be any reason for these preparations
except to make certain pharmacists rich. The chemist says to
the doctor: Now here is this compound; you want it, doctor; it
will act on the hypotbenuse of the liver, and depress the awful
ferment in your uropoietic apparatus; here is one that will tickle
the sulci of your cerebellum, and here is another that will dry up
your capillaries and open your diaphoristic ducts. And the
travelling colporteur, the peddler of medical tracts, sets down his
grip, whips out a spirit lamp, and, presto! you've got a pharma-
ceutical kitchen on one end of your desk before you know it.
And the glib-tongued hero of the gripsack rattles off, parrot like,
a lot of jargon, which neither he nor his listener can possibly
understand.
4-00 The Old Matt of the Sea.
If you mildly tell him, when you wedge a word in, that you do
not use such remedies, he. glares at you, and in a shocked voice
says: Why Dr. Treacle and Dr. Epsom, and Surgeon Cut Em Up
think very highly of this, and they're hospital doctors, too. Xow
just why Drs. Treacle and Epsom should be the supreme censors
of physic you mildly wonder; you don't tell the agent-man,
though, what you think, for by this time the agent-man has got
you in the condition of the little boy the first time he saw an
elephant. So you meekly accept a bottle and promise to use it.
I have a mausoleum of liquid samples on a swing shelf in my
cellar. And the kitchen lady generally takes the malt extracts
and the emulsions of cod liver oil under the idea that they will
give her an appetite and build up her system.
And the patient of the lazy doctor ? Oh ! he bears up bravely
for a time under the scientific treatment, but usually ends with
shattered nerves in a sanitarium, or passes, from heart failure.
There is very little said about the patient in the pamphlets and
testimonials. Somehow these coal tar medicines are not very
good for the nerves in the long run. It would seem that the
genii of the coal revenged themselves for being disturbed in their
million-yeared lair.
Have you any idea of the immense output in printing of a
patent medicine plant ? I am told that it is no unusual thing to
print an edition of 30,000,000 advertising almanacs; then think
of the circulars, the presents to the Lazy Doctors (and to the doc-
tors that are not lazy), the samples, the bottles, the newspaper
advertising. Your pharmacists are able to do all this and yet get
rich in a few years. Of course the medicine don't cost much; it
is the advertising. And the lazy doctor who uses the proprietary
article is aiding and assisting in this modern privateering.
The doctor gives the patient a prescription, and in the prescrip-
tion appears the name of some of the pharmaceutical marvels: Seng,
Kola, or Nargal or Alphasol, or some other of the wonderfully or
and fearfully named. And the patient sees the name and ruminates:
" I've seen that name somewhere." And it is not long until the
patient finds and reads the newspaper exposition of the virtues
of the article. The next time he is sick he reasons: Why go to
Dr. Treacle? He gave me Seng the last time and I can buy it
myself and save the doctor's fee. Directions are on the bottle.
And the patient buys Seng and the doctor loses his fee and prob-
ably his patient. For if that fellow gets so sick he must have a
The Old Man of the Sea. 401
doctor he won't go to Dr. Treacle; he understands Dr. Treacle's
methods. He'll hnnt up some doctor who can mystify him in
better fashion.
In the meantime Mr. Old Man of the Sea, the Pharmaceutical
Chemist, is perfectly satisfied that he has switched off the patient
from his doctor and established in him a habit of buying the
proprietary remedy direct from the druggist. For all the O. M.
of S. P. Chemist needs of the doctor is that he permits himself
to be used as a catspaw to inoculate in his patients the patent
medicine habit. All this smirking and smiling, this blotter and
calendar and sample business, is only to get the doctor to intro-
duce the various products of pharmaceutical wisdom to his
patients. If you do not believe this take your stand for half a
day in any drug store and see the confiding public buy its own anti-
kamnia, and Seng, and phenol, and Bromo-seltzer, and chlorodyne,
and Phenalgin, and all the rest of the highfalutin products. The
patient is just where the O. M. of S. P. Chemist wishes him to
be; in direct commercial relations with the manufacturer. And
poor little, confiding Sindbad is staggering along with the afore-
mentioned O. M. of the S. P. C. on his back, and with very little
else to do. Is he to be pitied? Not much, I wot me, not much.
Dr. Treacle, and Dr. Physic, and Dr. Lazy Bones do you not
see that by this slipshod way you have gotten into you have lost
the confidence of your patients and have ceased to be what every
successful doctor must be, somewhat of a mystery to the sick who
come to him. For if you do not tell your patient to buy some of the
diabolical coal tar compounds you write a prescription for some of
them The effect is the same. And then you go around won-
dering why the people turn from you to the Chemist, and from
the Chemist to the Christian Science Healer, or the Faith Cure
Woman, or the Clairvoyant, or the Hot Water and Diet Cure. It
is the logical result of your doubt of yourselves, and of the
mastery you have allowed the O. M. of the S. P. C. to obtain
over you. You may be very certain that the O. M. of the S. P.
C. does not not carry his doubts on the outside of his gripsack.
And this is called an era of medical progress by some physicians.
Bar the results of the discoveries of preventive and hygienic
medicine in which, thank God, we have made great advances,
where are your discoveries ? To deny that the Pharmaceutical
Chemist dominates modern medical practice is to write oneself an
ignoramus.
402 The Old Man of the Sea.
And all that is necessary to verify the statement that in pre-
scription writing there is little progress is to study the formulae to
be found on the pages of any reputable medical journal. There
is just as much reason for the prescriptions of the present day as
there was for those made ioo years ago. In fact, The School is in
some measure going backward. Certainly the prescriptions that
are flavored with coal tar extracts are no more sensible than those
to be found between the covers of old Salmon (date, London
1 671). Even thrashed out Creosote is again becoming a fad.
And you will find mummy under the list of medicines in a repu-
table drug catalogue issued yearly in the U. S. There's lots of
creosote in good old Egyptian mummy.
It is the same old combination, same old olla podrida, same
witch's broth. The same jumbling together of several drugs to
do the work that one, if the right one, ought to do. Why is it
that when disease enters into a man the notion is that it is neces-
sary to fight it with so-called strong medicines ? The most deadly
diseases attack silently, lay their deadly grip upon us, themselves
unseen. Nature works in infinitesimals. And yet in medication
the doctor must take a great club to that strange entity we call
disease. And educated by many years of such dosing the patient
will say: Doctor, make it strong; I can stand strong medicine.
No, my dear boy, I've nothing against O. M. of the S. P. C.
If he can get a chance to ride pick-a-back let him, only I do not
care to figure as Sindbad.
There is no doubt that in these proprietary compounds there is
somewhat of value. But since we of the homoeopathic school
have a certain law according to which we find out the action of
drugs on the healthy body, let us not use these drug-articles
empirically, but first carefully test their action in accordance with
our law. Let us not experiment blindly, ruled by the dictum of
the pharmaceutical chemist. It is quite time for the doctors of
every school to prepare gourds and wine with which to decoy and
render harmless these blood-suckers, the chemists. Besides I feel
that I am a better judge of what I want and need to prescribe for
my patients than is the chemist; and I hold it an insult for him
to send me samples of things in which I do not believe and for
which I have no use. It's getting to be a confounded nuisance,
these samples and circulars, and if I tell Mr. Colporteur that he
need not leave me any samples he generally expresses himself in
language not used in polite circles. If I want any of Mr. Pharma-
What Homoeopathy Has Done. 403
ceutical Chemist's preparations I can buy them. My friend, this
is no idle talk, it is a fact that must be faced. The medical pro-
fession of the present time can not afford to thus throw the balance
of power into the greedy hands of a lot of men whose aim is to
make money, not to heal the sick.
Our school, the homceopathic, is using them, you say? Yes,
some of them are. The lazy ones are, or such as are amenable to
the gentle sophism of the gripsack man. It's a pity, too, when
they have so many better tools. Were they not lazy doctors they
wouldn't do it, they would not need any coal tar products.
The pity of it! that he who has the sure law, the only real law
of cure, that of Similia, should, because he is too lazy to study
and apply it, accept the dominance of these gripsack gentry and
their promotors. Why for a homoeopath to pin his faith to anti-
kamnia, or seng, or apocodeine, or benzonaphthol, or any of the
other "thols," or "ides," or "lals," is like a man in this age of
electric light going back to the tallow dip of his grandfather.
And these coal tar homoeopaths are making a very great mis-
take in supposing that when a man sends for a homoeopathic
physician he is satisfied with the complacent Janus who says he
practices both ways. The homceopathic laymen who were brought
up under the regime of a Hering, or a Raue, or a Kitchen, are not
going to put much confidence in the fellow who practices both
ways and uses bad Allopathy because he is too ignorant or too idle
to use good Homoeopathy.
The man who goes to the homoeopathic physician wants real
Homoeopathy, and if you do not give him Homoeopathy he may
keep you for the time, if you understand the noble art of the con-
fidence man. But when he hears the flutter of the wings of
blackness he is pretty sure to send for a homoeopath to whom the
name of Hahnemann is more than an old wife's tale, and who has
time to individualize and prescribe according to an eternal law.
WHAT HOMOEOPATHY HAS DONE.
By S. G. A. Brown, M. D.
Dr. Chapman's "Evolution of a Homoeopath" in the July
number of the Recorder recalls to mind vividly what Homoe-
opathy has done for me on several occasions. Not that I am an
expert at prescribing — for unfortunately I am far from it — but it
is simply the old story, when the remedy is homoeopathic to the
404 What Ho7nceopathy Has Done.
disease a cure must of necessity result. It seems almost incred-
ible even to one who professes to be an adherent to the Homoeo-
pathic Law, that remedies, infinitesimal in dosage, can and do
produce such wonderful and almost instantaneous results. But
facts are stubborn things, and none are so blind as they who will
not see.
A bright little girl, aet. nine years, was taken suddenly ill one
summer evening. The case was diagnosed as acute meningitis.
Fever rose rapidly to 1050 F.; headache, which rapidly increased
in severity; vomiting; constipation; small, weak pulse; delirium.
Matters kept growing worse despite all I could do. When I saw
her on the evening of the 5th day she was unconscious, fever
104. 20 F., pupils dilated and unequal; twitching of facial mus-
cles; difficult respiration, and bathed in cold sweat. While study-
ing the case I thought, "Can there be a suppressed eruption?
Is there anything in Hahnemann's old-fogy theory after all?
The child is going to die anyhow, so I may as well play my last
card." Accordingly I put 15 drops of Sulphur 30 dil. in half a
glass of water, and gave a teaspoouful every fifteen minutes.
After the third dose she began to breathe easier, and when I left
her at the end of two hours she was in a peaceful slumber. Next
morning on my arrival I found a beautiful eruption all over the
face; temperature, 99. 40 F. ; patient bright and wanting some-
thing to eat. She made an extremely rapid recovery. No other
remedy was administered afterward.
A stranger walked into my office eight years ago, asking me to
prescribe for a suppuration of the lymphatic glands of the neck.
The glands were terribly swollen, some had broken down, and at
several places were discharging a bland yellow fluid. Being
anxious to attend a hurried call, I gave him some powders of
Calc. carb. 30, and told him to call again next day. That was
the last I heard of the case until this summer, when he returned.
Astonishment scarcely expressed my emotions when he told me
he had not taken all the powders as the neck rapidly healed up,
and nothing but two small scars remained as evidence of his
former disease.
I had been prescribing faithfully for an obstinate diarrhoea, but
without avail. One morning the patient told me that the affec-
tion was so anoying, as it always hurried her out of bed in the
morning. One dose of Sulphur 1000 and plenty of Sac. lac. so
constipated her that I had to order an enema. Nine years have
What Homoeopathy. Has Done. 405
gone by and there has been no recurrence of the attack. No
doubt there are those who will smile at this, but the lady is still
living to verify my statement.
A man had been treated for three months for "lumbar ab-
scess." Every day during that time a poultice was kept good
and warm over the seat of the affection. He finally discharged
the Old School physician and called me in. It was on a Sunday.
The room was filled with S37mpathizing friends and relatives. I
found a weak, consumptive-looking individual, propped up in
bed, and scarcely ab!e to breathe. There was considerable bulg-
ing over the left kidney. His body was bathed in a cold sweat.
Urine was scanty and highly colored. Temperature 1010 F.
CBdema of feet and ankles. After I had examined him he asked
me what was the matter with him and insisted upon knowing. I
told him frankly I did not know, but could tell him within
twenty-four hours. I wish I had had a kodak at that moment to
photograph the ironical (?) smile of my audience. I walked over
to the table; found a solution of Morphia and a hypodermic
syringe. I poured the solution out of the window and closed up
the syringe. My patient cried that he could not do without it, as
he suffered so much pain, especially toward night. I told him
we would try to relieve him (another smile by the audience). I
left him some powders of No. 10 pellets saturated with Lyco-
podium 30 dil., telling him to take a powder every two hours,
and directing him to save all urine passed until I came next day.
Upon my arrival next day I found my patient lying down, flat,
sleeping; also found a chamber half full of gravel, pus, urine;
diagnosis, pyo-nephrosis. Patient made a rapid recovery and for-
got even to thank me; but I thank him, for it was the means of
tripling my income in less than six months.
A gentleman who had been the round of several specialists for
an effection of the right eye went to a prominent eye-hospital in
Philadelphia, remained there six weeks, became discouraged and
left, as his eye kept on getting worse. While visiting his parents
here he called upon me to relieve him of the intense pain until he
could consult another specialist. I could see no trouble except an
extremely inflamed conjunctiva with excessive photophobia; but
then I was no specialist, remember, and may have been mistaken.
Gave him pellets saturated with Aconite 0 and a wash of Calendu-
lated Boracic acid. Result, eye cured in three days.
A lady who had been treated internally, externally and eter-
4o6 How lie Became a Homoeopath.
nally for six weeks by an old school physician for subacute
cystitis came to me in desperation from the terrible burning and
strangury. Gave her a dose of pellets of Cantharis 2x dil. in
the office and a prescription of the same to take along. After
she had taken the dose in the office she said: " Doctor give me
something to relieve me, these sugar pills will never do it; give
me something strong." I told her to try them and report next
day if no better. I did not hear from her for eight weeks, when
she came in and handed me the medicine I had given her, saying
she did not need it, as the one dose in the office had cured her.
She got relief the first day before she got home.
And so I might continue, but time and space forbid. I have
seen Calc. carb. 30th put a man to sleep where Morphia had failed
to relieve in a case of renal calculi. I have seen another patient
snatched from the jaws of death, from impending heart failure
(after diphtheria), by a few doses of Ammon. carb. 2x when
Strychnia had failed. I have seen a soldier home from Santiago,
saturated with Malaria and Quini?ie, quit shaking within twenty-
four hours after taking Ipecac 200, notwithstanding he had six
weeks of scientific (?) treatment in the camp hospital, New York,
after his arrival home. Your humble servant has been promptly
cured of toothache by Coffea 30X after Antikamnia had failed.
But do not imagine my pathway is strewn with roses, for being
of the genus homo I still have cravings for the alluring fleshpots
of Egypt; but after " all others fail " I consult the " old reliable"
Similia Similibus Curantur, and success usually crowns my
efforts.
Shippensburg , Pa.
HOW HE BECAME A HOMCEOPATH.
A Remarkable Career.
(Adam Miller, M. D., who was one of the oldest Homoeopathic
physicians in Chicago, died July 29th, in his 92d year. The fol-
lowing sketch of his career was written for the "Old Guard"
Society last year by himself.)
At your request I give you a statement showing the reason why
I became a homceopathist.
From my youthful days I had a natural desire to help the needy
and relieve human suffering; and after I had passed through my
school studies and entered the ministry of the Gospel, I found
How he Became a Homoeopath. 407
that there were many cases of sufrerering that I would be glad to
relieve if I had the power to do so. This was especially the case
while laboring as a missionary among the poorer classes in our
large cities.
I finally concluded to study medicine that I might be more
successful in relieving suffering among the poor.
While stationed in Cincinnati I frequently attended medical
lectures, and soon became deeply interested in this study. When
I was sent to the city of Baltimore, my residence was near the
medical college, and here I took a full course of lectures with a
view to graduate and become a regular doctor.
Before I finished my course, however, I was sent to New York
City as a missionary, as I had gained some notoriety in this work.
Here I attended another full course of medical lectures, and in
the spring of 1847 I went through the regular examination by
the profession of the medical department of the University of
New York, and received my diploma as M. D. Soon after this
my own child took sick, and as we had already lost three children
from disease in early childhood we became alarmed at the symp-
toms of a severe croup. A friend told us he could bring to us a
doctor that would cure her immediately. We consented to make
the trial, and the next morning the child was as well as usual.
This so impressed my wife with the superiority of this treatment
that she would have no other in her family.
After witnessing the marvelous success for some time, I con-
cluded to try it on some of my patients, and procured a supply of
homoeopathic medicines and medical books for instruction. I soon
found that patients under homoeopathic treatment done much
better than under the old treatment. One day I was called to see
a very poor family with two very sick children. The one, a small
boy, had brain fever, and the other one, a small girl, had dysentery.
I was told the doctor had been there in the morning and told the
parents that there was no hope for their recovery. There was at
the same time several benevolent ladies at the house making
shrouds for the burial of the children.
I immediately commenced the treatment with homoeopathic
medicine and cured them both in a very short time.
This produced a profound impression upon the neighbors, as
well as upon my own mind, in reference to the superiority of this
treatment; and after some further trials and almost unexpected
success I removed my supply of allopathic medicine and secured
homoeopathic medicines, and practiced it exclusively.
408 How he Became a Homoeopath.
On account of an affection of my throat, which prevented me
from preaching, I returned to my old home in Cincinnati and
commenced the practice of medicine.
I had great success in the treatment of cholera and other severe
diseases, and soon gained a large practice.
In the year 1851 I removed to Quincy, Illinois. The cholera
had broken out in a fearful form the week before I arrived there.
The people and the doctors were alarmed. It was in June, 1851.
The word was soon spread through the city that a new doctor
had arrived, and that he knew how to treat the cholera.
The first day after my arrival I had three patients, and the
second day I had six, and in two weeks I had all I could attend
to.
I cured several that the Catholic priest had anointed and pre-
pared for death. He was so vexed about it that he denounced
me from his pulpit, and warned his people against employing me
as their physician; and said it must be some tl black art" or work
of the Devil that allowed people to get well after he had prepared
them for death. Many, however, continued to come.
After I left Quincy I went to Springfield. Here I became
acquainted with Governor Yates during the war. He employed
me as his family physician. On one occasion his little boy was
taken very sick with croup. His symptoms were so alarming
that the Governor requested me to stay all night with the child.
I consented to do so, and remained with the child all night, watch-
ing its symptoms and giving it medicine, and in the morning he
was relieved of all bad symptoms. This boy that was so alarm-
ingly sick at the Governor's mansion is now Governor of the
State of Illinois.
In the year 1862 I came to the city of Chicago, and in former
years I had a very large practice here. I am now in the 91st
year of my age and do not pay much attention to the practice of
medicine.
Of late years I have paid considerable attention to scientific
subjects, and have written a number of articles for newspapers
and published several books on these subjects.
I retain my mental faculties and continue my labors in the
fields of science and philosophy.
Very respectfully yours,
Adam Miller, M. D., Ph. D.
Chicago , June 20, 1900.
Transmission of Bovine Tuberculosis. 409
[The old doctor had an abscess of the prostate last spring, but
was cured of that. He did not, however, get strong, and the
severe heat ran him down rapidly. He was ready and anxious to
go he repeatedly said. Dr. T. C. D.]
THE TRANSMISSION OF BOVINE TUBERCU-
LOSIS TO THE HUMAN SUBJECT.
By Dr. Wilber J. Murphy.
Recently the daily papers have contained a number of articles
on Dr. Koch's reported statement that bovine tuberculosis was
not transmissible to the human subject through the medium of
meat containing the germs of the disease entering the system as
food.
Had this opinion been ventured by one less prominent it would
have been but lightly considered, if at all, but from one so identi-
fied with the study of germ life and so long a student of the
growth and development of parasitic diseases his recent article
regarding tuberculosis is one that cannot be passed without con-
sideration, as it is in direct opposition to the general views re-
garding the spread of tuberculosis.
Published interviews with prominent and competent medical
men in this country concerning Dr. Koch's recent issue show
that his views are not in accord with those held here relative to
the dangers of consumption by means of food affected with
tuberculosis.
The various experiments at our command tend to prove that
this disease may be inoculated from man to animals and from
animals to man largely through the medium of food. Many trials
have shown that it is possible to develop tuberculosis in chickens
and other small animals, presumably free from the disease, by
feeding them with meat affected with tuberculosis as well as hy
the direct injection of tuberculous matter.
It is difficult to devise a method of experiment which would
satisfactorily prove the transmissibility of bovine tuberculosis to
the human subject, and our observations are largely gathered
from accidental instances which range within a very narrow sphere
of observation.
From the way tuberculosis can be experimentally developed in
many animals there can be but little doubt of its general trans-
410 Transmission of Bovine Tuberculosis.
missibility. Iu those instances where an apparent immunity
exists it is probably due to some accidental cause, as tuberculosis
is tuberculosis, whether it is in man, cow, chicken or rat. I can
recall a circumstance which appears to substantiate the transmis-
sibilityof human tuberculosis to the bovine species, and it matters
little whether the virus of tuberculosis enters the system as a part
of the food eaten or is deposited on what is eaten in the form of
expectoration.
At a home for consumptives, a short distance from New York
city, cows, all young, in good condition and presumably free from
tuberculosis, were purchased from a dealer for the use of the in-
mates of the place. They were stabled on the premises, near the
house. Whether they had been subjected to the tuberculin test
or not I do not know.
They remained at the sanitarium about ten months, during
which time they grazed almost entirely upon a piece of pasture
frequented by the patrons of the institution. Where these ani-
mals were kept there occurred the copious and continued expec-
toration of tuberculous sputa so characteristic of the advanced con-
sumptive.
When these cows were replaced by a fresh supply they were
brought for slaughter to the abattoir over which I had super-
vision at the time. Plainly the ravages of disease could be seen.
Some were yet in fair condition, but the majority were emaciated
aud revealed the presence of the disease in an advanced stage.
When killed each one of the fourteen cows presented well marked
lesions of pulmonary tuberculosis and in four, if I remember cor-
rectly, the entire system was affected with the disease in a gen-
eralized form. Time would probably have brought them all to
this state and circumstances seem to point strongly to infection
from the human victim of the disease.
As attention becomes directed to these terrible diseases the dis-
cussions which arise over opposing views have nothing but a
healthy termination and in the end the real causes responsible for
the prevalence of such dreadful scourges as consumption are dis-
cerned, which is but the first step in their successful and efficient
eradication.
Spri?igjield, Mass., July, ipoi.
Abies Nigra on the Heart. 411
ABIES NIGRA ON THE HEART.
By Dr. T. C. Duncan.
This drug, that produces " the undigested hard-boiled egg sen-
sation" in the stomach, may give us a clew to the effect of severe
inhibition on the heart. Dr. J. B. Bell says: " I have taken various
potencies, from the tincture up to the 30th, and have invariably
confirmed the proving, to wit: Pain in external meatus (of ear),
heavy, slow beating of the heart, dyspnoea, and finally sharp pain
in the heart. This last was very severe from the 30th, so severe
that I was obliged to take Aconite to antidote it." The strong,
slow contraction finally developed the cardialgia. All who have
chewed spruce gum will remember the stomach symptoms recorded
by Dr. St. Clair Smith, as quoted above. This drug gives us a
clew as to how the arterial tension is increased.
The cases of bradycardia when this drug is curative will have
the stomach symptoms and dyspnoea. Abies is not we see primarily
a heart remedy, but should not be overlooked in heart cases when
the symptoms correspond.
ATTEMPT TO SET ASIDE HAHNEMANN'S
PHARMACOLOGY.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn., Aug., 1 90 1.
( Homoeopathic journals are requested to copy.)
In his celebrated Organon* of rational Therapeutics our Master
Hahnemann teaches us
" We secure the powers stored up in our indigenous plants, which
we can get in a fresh state most completely and surely, whe?i
the juice, which should be immediately expressed, is at once well
mixed with an equal qua?itity of alcohol. By the alcohol added to
the juice all fermentation of the juice of the plants is immediately
checked and also prevented in the future, and the whole medicinal
force of the juice of the plants is thus permanently preserved com-
pletely AND UNIMPAIRED."
To guard the right of priority to this discovery, which had
been disputed, Hahnemann made a foot note to this direction in
the last edition of his Organon, as follows:
*Ed. V., \ 267; 1st edit, of 1810, § 230.
412 Attempt to Set Aside Hahnemann's Pharmacology.
" Buchholz, in his ' Manual for Chemists and Druggists/
Weimar (1815, Part I, VI.) 1 assures his readers in recounting
this mode of preparation: This excellent mode of preparing medi-
cines we owe to the Russian Campaign, as it came from Russia
( 1 8 1 2) to Germany. But this discovery and this direction which he
adduces in my own words from § 230 of the first edition of the
Org anon is due to me, and that I first communicated it to the
world in this book, two years before the Russian Campaign (the
Org anon was published in 18 10) he fails to mention, according to
the noble custom of Germans of treating the merits of their
countrymen with injustice. He would rather ascribe the origin of
this discovery to the wilds of Asia than to acknowledge that this
honor belongs to a German. O tempora, 0 mores /"
From this note it will be seen that Hahnemann was not only
proud of this discovery, but that he also energetically defended
his right of priority to this discovery. And, in fact, the grand
effect of his therapeutics are in no small part due to remedies pre-
pared according to this method, among which are the well-known
and established remedies, such as Aconite, Belladonna, Bryonia,
Conium, Digitalis, Hyoscyamus, Pulsatilla, Rhus tox., Stramo-
nium, etc. The chief provings as well as the secondary provings
were made by Hahnemann and his disciples almost altogether
with remedies prepared according to Hahnemann's direction.
In the well-known Pharmacopoeia polyglot ta homosopathica, by
Dr. William Schwabe, these original directions of Hahnemann
were faithfully accepted and for several decennia homceceopathic
remedies have been prepared all over the world in homoeopathic
establishments that work with exactness, according to the direc-
tions laid down in that work.
This same method, closely following the original directions of
Hahnemann and the provers who succeeded him, was approved of
in the year 1872 by the "Central Union of Homoeopathic Phy-
sians of Germany" and by the "Union of Honucopathic Physicians
of Hungary" and by numerous other homoeopathic authorities
and recommended to the various governments for legal sanction
and introduction.
Now, since the whole homoeopathic treatment of patients de-
pends on the provings obtained by Hahnemann and his disciples
with remedies prepared according to Hahnemann's direction,
which has been embodied in Schwabe' s Pharmacopoeia, it neces-
sarily follows that remedies 'prepared in a different manner must
Attempt to Set Aside Hahnemann's Pharmacology. 413
first be proved again, and in using them homoeopathic therapy
would be without any firm ground to stand upon.
It would be impossible to treat patients with exactness according
to Hahnemann's directions, and we could have nothing but new ex-
periments at the sick-bed. It was not without deep meaning that
Hahnemann advised his disciples : " Imitate me, but imitate with
exact?iess. ' '
This danger of a treatment without approved foundation, and
therefore wavering and uncertain, is not a distant one. For a
short time ago a commission in Berlin published a Homoeopathic
Pharmacopoeia which, though it contains nothing new as a whole,
and is nothing but a compilation of things printed before, never-
theless contains two innovations which would totally subvert our
present mode of preparing homoeopathic medicines, and to which
we are compelled to call the attention of our readers. This
pharmacopoeia altogether ignores the original direction of the
founder of Homoeopathy and directs their manufacture in another
way. Such an endeavor cannot be characterized in any other
way than as an attempt on the very life of homoeopathic pharma-
ceutics and therapy. We, therefore, consider it a sacred duty to
protest publicly and energetically against the arbitrariness manifested
in this work and to warn our readers against the use of medicines
made in this way as ?iot being homoeopathic in the sense of Hahne-
mann.
Hahnemann would turn over in his grave if he would find out
that some of his successors have so little comprehended his ideas
that they could support such a subversion of his pharmacopoeia.
How little the Berlin Pharmacopoeia is to be depended on may
appear when we read in it, that the Aconite tincture prepared ac-
cording to its direction will be of a yellowish-brown color (as, in-
deed, it will be when prepared according to the direction of Hahne-
mann), while actually such a product is a green color !
This would make it appear as if this Commission had not taken
the trouble to verify the nature of its remedies; in any case the
statements of the Pharmacopoeia would have to be verified before
they could be received as reliable.
The preparation of the potencies shows the same arbitrariness.
While Hahnemann, who was also an exact mathematician, laid
down as the unit for potentizing: the fresh juice, the drug, the
chemical element or preparation, the Berlin Pharmacopoeia has
simply set aside their principles as to their essentials. With a
414 Three Pyrogenium Cases.
peculiar lack of logic they consider at one time the tincture, at an-
other the chemical element as the unit from which to start.
We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that the various
potencies have a very different amount of medicinal strength
from those prepared according to Hahnemann's original direc-
tions. Thus we find that one vial of the third potency prepared
according to Scwabe's Pharmacopoeia will contain as much medi-
cine in the cases of China, Ignatia, Ipecacuanha, Nux vomica,
Spongia, Veratrum, etc., as twenty vials of equal size prepared
according to the Berlin Pharmacopoeia. Or, in other words: Five
grammes of the third decimal potency prepared according to
Schwabe's Polyglotta, i. <?. , according to Hahnemann's direction,
will contain as much medicine as 100 grammes prepared accord-
ing to the Berlin work. In other words: The 4th decimal potency
made according to Hahnemann is twice as strong as the potency
made according to the Berlin directions.
This presentation will enable anyone to see the uncertainty,
confusion and chaos which would ensue if the Berlin Pharma-
copoeia were received and the medicines in homoeopathic pharma-
cies should be prepared according to its directions.
If one corner-stone or foundation be torn out of the edifice of
Homoeopathy built up by Hahnemann, — and his mode of prepar-
ing medicines must be regarded as such a corner-stone — the whole
edifice will be endangered. A great triumph for the enemies of
Homoeopathy ! Therefore we earnestly warn all our readers:
Principiis obsta !
THREE PYROGENIUM CASES.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
Aug., 1901.
In reviewing the use of Pyrogenium by Baldelli in a case of
metritisseptica my colleague, Mr Mossa, states that this remedy
is unknown among us. I, myself, became acquainted with it
through Baldelli, and my dear colleague may regard it as a sign
of gratitude toward him if I here give my slight experience with
this remedy.
I was still under the recent impression of two cases of puerperal
fever of fatal issue. They were mothers of numerous children
and dear friends. I may say that during the whole course of their
disease I spent several hours every day in hunting up remedies.
Three Pyrogenium Cases. 415
The various remedies given seemed to be well indicated; I gave
medium potencies and low potencies without being able to save
them from death. At this time, I see the error then made, Sul-
phur or Tuberculinum would have saved the two women. They
both had a heavy hereditary encumbrance of tuberculosis.
With some hesitation I undertook the treatment of a relative
who was afflicted with the same disease; this hesitation was the
greater, as my relative lived at a great distance; which excluded
frequent visits.
She had borne eight weeks ago and later on she had been seized
with fever. She was under the treatment of three physicians.
She was extremely emaciatiated, and her temperature varied from
103 to 1040 F. The abdomen was distended, sensitive to pressure;
there was no appetite, great weakness and mental depression. An
encysted peritonitis was considered as established by her prac-
titioners. I found that the tumor extended above the umbilicus,
and the lower part of the vagina was pressed forward and down-
ward.
Pyrogenium 6 D. was given. Then Hepar sulph. 30 C. and
Mercurius corr. 30 C, to be taken in alternation, one dose every
three days.
The improvement set in at once, the fever diminished, her ap-
petite returned, the thirst decreased, and defecation and micturi-
tion were less painful. I^ater on I gave Silicea 30 C. and China 6.
Nine months later I had an opportunity of examining the patient.
She had much increased in weight and felt stronger than before
her delivery. The tumor had entirely vanished and the whole
affection reduced to a few cords in the posterior part of the vagina
and in the uterine region.
At the end of last year my sister-in-law was again confined.
Fever set in and my brother was disquieted and sent me the urine
of his wife for examination, with some few notes as to her ail-
ment. The discharge was copious and fetid, there were burning
pains during micturition, and burning in the abdomen, constipa-
tion and great anxiety. The urine was of olive color, and when
boiled, on the addition of nitric acid, it turned to gelatine. I pre-
scribed Tuberculinum 1000, Pyrogenium 6 D., Arsenicum 100 C,
one dose every two days. I had numbered the powders, and,
judging from the report, Pyrogenium proved effective also in this
case.
In eight days the urine showed a lighter color, its contents of
416 Kreosote in Various Kinds of Ernests.
albumen had diminished, the pains in the abdomen decreased.
In three weeks the patient was able to attend again to her do-
mestic duties. The urine was free from albumen. The physician
who had treated her before, when he made a casual call, was as-
tonished at her raipid cure But he would not, of course, admit
that this was due to my pills. I heard from him that he had
made hot injections of diluted Carbolic acid. This explained the
color and constitution of the urine.
A girl of 20 years, of questionable morality, was taken sick
with metritis and perimetritis actua. The symptoms were: vomit-
ing of bilious masses, severe pains during micturition and defeca-
tion. The abdomen is very sensitive even to a slight touch. The
patient, else so merry, is now sad and anxious, and feels that she
is very sick. Before this she had been treated for infiltration of
the tips of the lungs and albuminuria with bloatedness of the
face. I therefore gave her first a dose of Tuberculinum 1200 C,
then Bryonia 10 D. and Mercurius corr. 10 D. in alternation, but
without great succes. The fever remained at 1020 F. and the
pulse at 130; the pains alone had decreased. On the fourth day
she received Pyrogenium 6 D., when the good effects became
rapidly visible in the diminution of the fever, the pulse and the
pains. Mercurius corr. 10 D. was then omitted, as its administra-
tion was every time followed by pains. Instead of it the patient
received on the following days Mercurius corr. 30 C. The patient
has now been able to leave her bed, has a good appetite, and is as
extravagantly frolicsome as before. The only symptom remain-
ing is that the uterus continues to be painful when touched.
To the unlooker the curative effects of Pyrogeyiium may not be
so striking in these three cases. But in the first case, according
to the written report, an effect appea?'ed even at the first dose of
the medicine, while in the last case I myself was able to see the
rapid effect of the remedy so that I shall not hesitate a moment
in future to use it in similar cases.
KREOSOTE IN VARIOUS KINDS OF EMESIS.
A Pharmaco-dynamic Investigation.
By Dr. Mossa.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
Aug., 1 901.
Dr. Lambreghts published in the Journal beige d' Honuvopathie,
in the number for May-June, 1901, several interesting observa-
tions concerning the curative . effects of I\reosote in the symp-
tomatic vomiting in organic diseases of the stomach. In the be-
ginning of his article he claims that the remedy in this condition
acts in a decided homoeopathic manner, for when we investigate
Kreosote in Various Kinds of Erne sis. 417
its pathogenesis we find that it causes: "Nausea, vomiting, thirst,
dryness of the tongue and induration in the cardiac region, with
sensitiveness to the touch." All these symptoms point to deep-
seated disturbances, as they are wont to occur, e. g., in cancer of
the stomach and in ulcers of the same.
In the cases here communicated Kreosote did not effect a radical
cure of the ailment nevertheless they are of deep interest, as
they demonstrate that even in incurable diseases we may with
the aid of the suitable homoeopathic remedies alleviate the suffer-
ings and prolong life.
Case I. In November, 1889, Dr. Lambreghts was called to a
lady, whose disease had been pronounced by the physicians treat-
ing her to be incurable.
The patient, a mother of seven children, had never enjoyed
sound health, but she inclined to corpulence and made the im-
pression of good health. From her childhood up her stomach
had been very sensitive, so that a slight dietary error would be
followed by grave disturbances. There was no hereditary predis-
position at all. It was only at the time of the climacteric change
that her ailments became more pronounced. Digestion became
inert and difficult, accompanied with discomfort in the stomach,
sow eructation and constipation soon followed by nausea a?id vomit-
ing of food and mucus. The remedies prescribed only aggravated
her condition. In the fall of 1889 her ailment assumed a threat-
ening character. Several times she vomited black masses looking
like coffee-grounds, and her emaciation continually increased.
The allopathic doctors treating her, as well as a professor from a
university, established at the time the presence of a tumor in the
gastric region, and their diagnosis wTas: Cancer of the stomach,
with a hopeless prognosis.
Then, at last, they resolved to consult Homoeopathy.
Present condition : The patient is in a state of extreme prostra-
tion; the face is emaciated, sallow, the eyes dim; the pulse weak
and accelerated, the tongue dry. CEdema around the ankles.
She can scarcely stand up for weakness and her answers are in a
very low voice. The abdomen is violently distended, tympanitic.
On palpation there is felt quite an extensive swelling, which can
be felt as something hard, lumpy and sensitive to the touch, situ-
ated on the anterior side of the stomach. The patient can bear no
manner of food, even Vichy- water and milk in spoonful doses is
vomited almost instantly.
418 Kreosote in Various Kinds of Ernests.
The first task to be essayed was, evidently, the checking of the
vomiting, which was bringing her to exinanition from hunger.
I prescribed Kreosote 3 D., two drops in a teaspoonful of water,
every two hours.
Next morning I already received a favorable report. The
patient had retained several spoonfuls of milk and the medicine.
On the fourth day, the remedy being taken continuously, the
vomiting had much diminished; the patient took a pint of milk
and two cups of veal broth. On the tenth day the vomiting had
ceased almost entirely, so that the amount of nourishment could
be increased. The stool was secured through clysters of linseed
or glycerine. After fourteen days Kreosot. was discontinued and
other remedies were used, which checked the further development
of cancer and restored the function of the stomach. The chief
remedies were Phosphorus, Coudurango, Hydj-astis, Arsenicum
and Nux vom. Besides these remedies the patient had her vial of
Kreosot., a few doses of which always sufficed to check the vomit-
ing, which kept recurring from time to time.
With this treatment the condition of the patient kept continu-
ally improving. The digestion was better, the stool became more
regular, the appetite and strength increased. Thus the woman
continued for nine years without any essential change in the size
or consistency of the tumor in the stomach. But after this time
more frequent and serious attacks of vomiting appeared, often in
consequence of an error in diet; but these were always relieved
by a few doses of Kreosotum. With the exception of these attacks
her condition, greatly to the astonishment of all her acquaintances,
was pretty satisfactory. Digestion, indeed, was always precari-
ous, accompanied with discomfort, heartburn and flatulence; the
complexion remained yellow; the slightest exertion exhausted her
and caused dyspnoea. Nevertheless her nutrition was, on the
whole, regular and properly assimilated, so that the woman
weighed in 1892 not less than 85 kilogrammes, about 38 kilo-
grammes more than in 1889. While spending the summer in the
country her condition would improve so much that for months she
could do without medicines.
In the year 1898, owing to a copious dinner, she was suddenly
seized with violent indigestion. Black vomiting set in with fre-
quent recurrence, and neither Kreosot., Hamamelis or any other
remedy was able to check it. Even Carbo veg. could not remove
her cyanosis. Her weakness and prostration rapidly increased
Kreosote in Various Kinds of Emesis. 419
and the patient succumbed. The action of K?'eosotui?i in her
case had, nevertheless, been most remarkable.
Case II. A case, somewhat similar to the one already cited,
was observed by the same author in the Board of Charity, of
which he is the medical director. The patient in question was a
laborer in the port, fifty years of age, unmarried, addicted to
drink; he appeared in the office in January, 1896. His unsteady
gait, bloated appearance, and yellowish, enervated face, together
with his trembling hands, showed a depressed constitution. His
gastric troubles, which had continued for several years, showed
the following peculiarities: Regurgitation of water in the morn-
ing, lack of appetite, violent pains in the stomach, thirst and con-
stipation. These symptoms increased and about two weeks before
he presented himself in tie dispensatory there suddenly set in a
pretty violent vomiting of blood. Ever since then he has been
vomiting the food, mixed with mucus and water, a few hours
after his meals. When asked why he had not sooner attended to
his ailment, he answered that he had always been able to check
his sufferings at once by a glass of gin. But to-day this had not
relieved him, and so he had come to the doctor.
An examination showed a plainly circumscribed swelling in the
region of the pylorus. The writer called the patient's attention
to the fact that his ailment was a very serious one, and that he
could only make a very limited use of alcoholic liquors. Com-
plete abstention from alcohol, even if it had been practicable,
might easily, as has often been observed, have increased the gas-
tric disturbances.
I prescribed Kreosolum 3 D. and appropriate dieting. After
four days the patient reported improvement, the vomiting having
gradually diminished. Xow I^reosotum was given in alternation
with Nux vom. The patient did not come back for three months,
when he reported that he had been in tolerable health. The
vomiting had appeared but rarely, and the pains in his stomach
he had quieted according to his custom by a few glasses of gin.
But lately his vomiting had set in again and very violently.
Again I\reosotuni 3 D. brought relief after several days. During
the next four years the patient appeared from time to time at the
dispensatory, about every two to three months when the vomit-
ing became too severe; and Kreosotum gave striking relief in
short order every time. But one day during the end of January,
1900, Dr. Lambreghts received an urgent call to visit the patient
420 Kreosote in Various Kinds of Erne sis.
in his house. The patient had been suddenly seized with severe
vomiting of blood, recurring repeatedly. Since he had no care at
home he was taken to the hospital, where he died a few weeks
later. This case is especially interesting, as it shows that the
Kreosotum was able to act in spite of the injurious effects of the
alcohol.
We add a few more cases from other observers so as to present
still more clearly the action of Kreosotum. Dr. Wohle cites from
Badington the following cases:
Case III. A young woman had been suffering for two years, in
consequence of a severe labor, from dysmenorrhcea, also several
times from metrorrhagia. The symptoms were as follows:
Daily vomiting; two or three hours after meals the food was
vomited undigested. This was attended with dimness of vision,
aggravated even to blindness. There was headache and a sensa-
tion of burning and constriction in the chest; the face pale and
bloated; the pulse small and weak; sensation of weariness and yet
sleeplessness. Kreosote was given, six drops in mucilaginous
water, a tablespoonful at a time. After the second spoonful the
patient improved, and was soon well again.
Cask IV. A child had been vomiting all its food undigested,
soon after eating it. Kreosote, a drop in 45 grammes of water, a
teaspoonful three times a day, soon cured it.
Case V. A woman had for years daily vomited her food. The
vomiting would begin four hours after a meal. The matter vom-
ited was in rare cases of a brownish color. The case had been
diagnosed as ulceration of the stomach. The long time elapsing
before vomiting set in, as well as the copiousness of the matter
egested, seemed to show that there was ectasis of the stomach.
This seemed the more likely, as the patient was suffering from a
sinking down of the kidney, which is frequently found as a con-
comitant of enlargement of the stomach, both these ailments hav-
ing their origin in a connate or acquired relaxation of the tissues
involved.
Therapy: dry diet; up to this time the patient had consumed
considerable quantities of liquids. Kreosotum 4 D., three times a
day, two drops. At night a compress (a la Priesuitz) on the
stomach. Her husband wrote in four weeks that a few days after
starting the treatment the vomiting had entirely vanished. Thus
an ailment that had continued four years had been healed in about
Kreosote in Various Kinds of Emesis. 421
as many days. (Dr. Bonrzutschky — Fleusbnrg in Zcitschrift des
Verein Berliner horn. AerzteJ)
Prof. Henoch reports the following cases:
Case VI. A young man, 16 years old, presented himself on
October 25th, 1S60. He had been in good health but three days
ago; after a very fatiguing foot-tour, during which also dietetic ex-
cesses had taken place, he was seized with headache and with
chills succeeded by fever; and these symptoms have continued
since. At the same time there set in anorexia, and a pressive
pain below the xiphoid process, with vomiting; the vomiting ap-
pearing at a period varying from a few minutes to half an hour
after every ingestion of food or of liquids. According to the
statement of the mother the ingesta were vomited up mingled with
much mucus; the stool was somewhat constipated. The pulse
156, with moderate tension; the temperature higher, especially in
the evening and night, at which time the headache also was most
violent. The sleep was interrupted by a slight delirium. The
respiration was 34. The expiration was expelled rapidly and
noisily. An examination showed the thorax to be normal. Press-
ure on the distended epigastrium was painful; the urine showed
no abnormal constituents. After the use of a Solutio gummosa
with Aqua amygdalarum and a strict diet the feverish symptoms
disappeared by November 14th; only the vomiting continued un-
changed, and appeared all the more troublesome as the appetite
had fully returned. Great prostration; the respiration continues
accelerated (about 32), with clearly visible inspirational contrac-
tion of the flexores capitis and of the scaleni. The expiration was
less noisy. The remedies given {Belladonna and Solutio fozi'leri)
remained without any effect. On the 22d of December the con-
dition still remained unchanged. Everything the boy ingested
was vomited up in a short time (at most an hour), the ejected
matter having an intensely acid taste and a foamy appearance.
At the same time there was good appetite, a normal stool and
great weakness; the pulse was 96 without any rise in tempera-
ture; complexion pale.
Xow Prof. Henoch prescribed ten drops of Kreosotum, Aqua
distil. 60.0, Syr. simpl. 30.0, the dose being a teaspoonful four
times a day.
On the next day there was at once a diminution of the vomit-
ing, and with January 2, 1S61, it ceased completely and alto-
gether. The boy could digest even heavy food easily. The
Kreosot. was continued to the 2 2d, and then owing to the plainly
422 Kreosote in Various Kinds of Ernests.
developed anaemia Tinct. ferri chlor. was substituted. Under the
continued use of this remedy the general state of the patient
rapidly improved, the unusual frequency and violence of the re-
spiratory motions diminished, and in July the boy, having fully
recovered, was able to resume his work that had been interrupted
for several months.
Case VII. A boy of eleven years, hitherto perfectly healthy,
had been suffering for three weeks from vomiting; all food and
all liquids, even pure water, being ejected without any particular
nausea within fifteen minutes. Appetite and stool were normal;
the tongue was coated in stripes; the gastric region was moder-
ately distended, but without pain; perceptible emaciation.
Eight drops of Kreosote in 90.0 Aqua d. and 30.0 Syrup simp/.
four times a day, a teaspoon ful. After the fourth teaspoonful the
vomiting ceased totally and the boy could eat any kind of food as
the author witnessed repeatedly.
Prof. Henoch contributes the last two cases in his Beitrege zur
Kinderheilkundep 314, etc., and makes the following remarks
upon them:
' ' In both these cases no microscopic analysis of the egesta was
made, and the existence of the fungi of fermentation was not,
therefore, actually demonstrated, still the rapid and decided action
of Kreosote makes it very probable that the ailment was a vom-
itus dyspepticus, due to abnormal processes of fermentation. This
supposition is rendered more likely from the sour and foamy
nature of the egesta in the former case. A dietetic excess, com-
bined with excessive muscular exertion in this case, caused the
symptoms of a feverish gastric catarrh, and when this was re-
moved the fermentative dyspepsia remained. In the second case
a similar process of development, though probable, could not be
demonstrated directly. I could form no definite judgment con-
cerning the respiratory anomaly in the first cace. The integrity
of the thoracic organs shown by the investigation and the conse-
quent favorable issue might lead us to ascribe the greater fre-
quency and intensity of the respiratory motions to a reflex action
proceeding from the irritation of the stomach. Still this explana-
tion is rendered doubtful by the fact that even after the cure of
the vomiting the respiratory symptoms continued for quite a
while and were only removed when the morbid state of the blood
had been cured and the strength had returned.
Kreosote has also been used, owing to the example of Christisen,
in chronic vomiting due to kidney troubles and in the vomiting of
pregnant women, and its action has often proved valuable. . . .
More Tuberculin Cases. 423
MORE TUBERCULIN CASES.
By Dr. Mau, Kiel.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from the Leipziger Pop. Z.
f. Horn., July, 1901.
1. I will add another case on which young and old allopaths
had tried their efforts in vain. A butcher's wife, aged fifty-
eight years, had been suffering for years from rheumatism,
first attended with stiffness and redness of the arms, hands, legs
and feet, followed by contractions in the fingers, toes and knees,
so that she could not move her hands and could walk only with
great difficulty. Tuberculinum removed all these ailments in
three months, and she is now in good health. In this case it is
manifest that Tuberculinum dissolved the calcareous deposits in
and around the joints.
2. I will now mention a case of idiocy and cretinism, the cure
of which made a great sensation here.
A girl of ten years had been in good health until she was vac-
cinated, which was done when she was one and a half years old.
But ever since she was vaccinated she seemed to be bereft of reason
and her state continually became worse. The greatest medical
celebrities in London, Paris and Vienna were consulted, but with-
out the least effect. Then the parents heard that I had partially
restored an idiot, sixteen years of age, and they brought her to
me. I found on examination the following condition: The patient
was of slight make, two feet and five inches high, the teeth still
totally hid in the gums; she could scarcely stand, and was unable
to walk and to talk; her forehead was low. while the occiput was
high; on the skull there were a number of protuberances, some
small, some larger, a part soft, while others were indurated; the
nose, eyelids and lips were strikingly large and thick — a perfectly
developed type of an idiot and a cretin. A careful examination,
especially of the misshapen head and its protuberances, showed
nests of tubercles. She stared about in entire apathy, without
any facial expression. What could I do? I had to give an anti-
dote to these colonies of tubercles and I decided on Tuberculinum
as the only remedy which offered any hope. She received the
medicine on the 10th of August. My second visit was made in
October. There was a decided improvement; she was beginning
to talk and to walk, the teeth were showing outside of the gums,
the shape of the head was becoming somewhat more normal; her
424 More Tuber ad in Cases.
general condition was altogether changed. The same medicine
was continued.
Every month brought an improvement. It is now a year since
she came under my treatment, but what a change had Tuberculi-
num 200 effected. The patient talks and walks, and even runs
about, she has grown three and a half inches, her reason is nor-
mal, she enjoys life and is healthy. Can there be any doubt that
the cause of her idiocy and cretinism lay in the tubercles, either
introduced by vaccination or inherited from her parents ?
3. Acute consumption cured by Tuberculinum.
A young gentleman of twenty-four years had been directed by
his physician to travel South, owing to acute consumption, but at
the advice of a friend he first called on me. His state was, indeed,
most serious, aud if I had not known the virtues of Tuberculinum
I also would have recommended him to start South at once.
But, under the circumstances, I advised him to stay, though I
could not be certain that I could cure him. His throat was full
of tubercles; he had fever for months; had coughed up masses of
pus and blood during the weeks preceding. His sleep was very
much broken, and for a week he had hardly slept at all. He ex-
pectorated much phlegm, especially in the morning, but there
was not always an admixture of blood. The liver and the spleen
were considerably swollen; the respiration was accelerated. The
whole condition was aggravated in the morning and in the even-
ing; in the morning there is so much lassitude that he can hardly
get up. His parents and brothers are still living, but one sister
had died from an affection of the hip-joint, and a second from
pulmonary consumption. Since the case was so virulent and
acute I gave Tuberculin. 1000, a powder every five days, the first
being given on October 2, 1891.
By the middle of November his sleep had much improved; his
throat was almost entirely clear of tubercles, there was no more
expectoration of blood, but still a good deal of pus expectorated;
there was still some fever, but only in the evenings. The cough
has disappeared; the appetite had improved. At Christmas time
he could be dismissed as cured.
On March 2d he came back; he had been quite well during the
intervening time, but during the last days he had had again some
expectoration streaked with blood. I did not recognize him at
once when he entered, he was so much changed. " I have gained
ten pounds in weight, and everybody wants to know who treated
me," were his words.
More Tuberculin Cases. 425
I continued Tuberculinum for another month, and later on
casually met the gentleman who had first advised him to consult
me, and inquired after his health. "Oh," said he, "I never
supposed that he could be cured, but now he looks well and bloom-
ing. I have mentioned it to many of my acquaintances, but they
will not believe me, because they have no faith in Homoeopath}7;
I cannot comprehend them."
If this patient had gone South, as other doctors had advised
him, he would — I am convinced — have succumbed to the malady.
"Going South" is by no means synonymous with "getting
w7ell." There are not a few persons who obediently follow their
doctor's advice and go South, but do they return? Alas! most of
them go on that long journey whence there is no return.
On October, 1893, I heard from the gentleman mentioned
above that my former patient is enjoying the best of health.
The rapid cure in this case was owing to the fact that it was a
new uncomplicated case and the morbid process had not yet pen-
etrated deeply into the lungs; even the larynx had not yet been
touched.
4. All cases of which I have become cognizant, where Koch's
subcutaneous injections have been applied, have died. I have
only treated one case where a person had received a number of
such subcutaneous injections in Berlin, and the case proved in-
structive. In this case the pulmonary consumption on the right
side had been apparently cured, z. <?., the right lung when care-
fully examined appeared to be quite normal, while the left lung
was congested. The patient had suffered from consumption and
the doctors had sent him to Florida, which at first agreed with him
very well. But, unfortunately, he was there seized with chills
and fever, which brought him down very much, and he returned
in a sad condition to England, a confirmed consumptive. He then
traveled to Berlin, to try Koch's cure After this had shown no
results, he came under my treatment. I found the spleen severely
tumefied; the patient whose left lung was congested and whose
spleen was swollen was, therefore, chiefly affected on the left side.
I am, therefore, of opinion that Koch's treatment would have
been successful in this case if the morbid state resulting from
chills and fever and the swelling of the spleen had first been re-
moved. I, therefore, set out to cure these morbid states, and for
a few weeks my patient felt much easier. Then I gave Tubercu-
li?iumy but without effect, as consumption in all its virulence had
426 Book Notices.
suddenly developed. I here again discovered that Tuberculinum
will not cure acute consumption when it has developed to its full
strength. Had the patient been treated with Tuberculinum in
homoeopathic potency before his journey to Florida, he would
probably have been cured.
BOOK NOTICES.
Hay Fever, and Catarrh of Head and Nose, with their Prevent-
ive and Curative Treatment. 'By E. B. Fanning, M. D. 170
pages. Cloth, 75 cents. Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel.
1 901.
The author of this book was a victim of hay fever for many
years, and in the book he gives his experience with the disease,
both as physician and sufferer, and tells how he finally conquered
it in himself and others. The book has the merit of originality,
something a little rarer in medical books than is commonly sup-
posed. Whether others can relieve this troublesome ailment as
Dr. Fanning does remains to be seen; they can at least have the
benefit of his experience.
Cancer. By H. F. Bigger, Cleveland. (Reprint from Medical
Century, July, 1901.)
This little 36 page reprint is worthy of careful reading by the
medical profession. Cancer, as most of our readers know, is in-
creasing, steadily increasing, each year. In 1840 the deaths from
this cause per million, in England and Wales, was 177, while in
1896 it was 764 per million inhabitants. The cause ? That is an
unsolved problem. In touching on the many theories as to the
case Dr. Bigger says of one of them :
" The influence of vaccination upon the question of increase of
cancer is debatable. It may be coincident, but since it has by
law been made compulsory in England and Germany, the ratio of
increase in these countries has been very much greater/'
This, in connection with the investigations of Dr. H. R. Gay-
lord, who has found that the cause of cancer is an animal parasite
strikingly resembling the vaccine poison, ought to make those
editors, whose only reply to the opponents of vaccination is
"crank," "fool," etc., etc., to really study the question. If, as
Book Notices. 427
may easily happen, the cause of the increase of this disease is
found to be in the vaccine virus then their position will not be an
enviable one. In a " post-script " Dr. Bigger refers to Dr. Bur-
nett's book on Tumours as one that "should be read by every
physician."
Messrs. Boericke & Tafel have in press a new work on prac-
tice— Practical Medicine — by J. Mortimer Lawrence, M. D., of the
Hahnemann College and Hospital, of Philadelphia. The book
will be thoroughly modern and will be about 500 pages or less in
size. As to its aims it can be said, the endeavor has been to ap-
proach the practice of medicine from a clinical standpoint — to set
forth clearly and simply those methods of examination which are
essential to diagnosis, to co-relate symptoms to pathological pro-
cesses, and to include under the treatment those general measures,
as well as medicines, whose value is not merely theoretical, but
has been proven by repeated bed- side experiences. The book doubt-
less will be very popular with students and practitioners, embody-
ing as it does the latest methods in modern medicines
In the review of Dr. Wilder' s History of Medicine, in August
Recorder, the price should have been $2.75 instead of $1.50.
A Dictionary of Domestic Medicine. Giving a Description
of Diseases, Directions for their General Management and
Homeopathic Treatment, with a special section on Diseases of
Infants. By John H. Clarke, M. D., London. American edi-
tion revised and enlarged by the author.
This is one of the best works on domestic practice that has ap-
peared in the homeopathic school since the work of Hering in the
early days of Homeopathy. The description of disease is very
clear and concise, and the therapeutic indications good as far as
they go. The special articles on bathing, clothing, diet, etc., are
found in alphabetical order, convenient for reference, and while
topical applications are recommended, they are generally as harm-
less as possible. We heartily commend the work where a domes-
tic book is needed, and when a family is 100 miles from a home-
opathic physician this will help an intelligent layman to do better
work than any physician of the dominant (irregular) school.
Hornoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE <Sz TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
EDITORIAL BREVITIES.
"We are constantly being deceived in practice by thera-
peutical drugs produced by synthesis that are by no means as re-
liable as the corresponding drug obtained in the natural way." —
Tooker.
Four fatal cases of tetanus and many cases of injuries from
vaccination caused Dr. Frederick, Health Officer of Cleveland,
Ohio, to order all vaccination stopped. It is supposed that the
vaccine virus was impure, and most likely this is true.
Some idea of the virulence of the bubonic plague may be had
from the fact that up to June 24th 1,406 cases had been reported
and 1,334 deaths. It is probable however, that owing to the
aversion of the Asiatics to European medical treatment that
many cases not fatal were not reported.
Dr. O. Stansbury {Am. Medicijie) finds Hydrogen dioxid ex-
cellent for the removal of powder stains. A man came to him
with his face badly burned by the premature explosion of a rifle
shell; the doctor picked out the powder and then applied the
Hydrogen dioxid, and when healed there was not the slightest
trace of the powder marks remaining.
A German doctor placed twenty-one artificially fed infants,
suffering from gastric troubles, in the care of wet-nurses and they
all promptly recovered. A healthy wet-nurse will probably cure
more ills of infants than any other prescription.
Dr. C. M. Menville (Therap. Gazette) says that "the quinine
intoxication is responsible for hematuria in malarial fevers." " I
Editorial. 429
have treated some two hundred cases and have never seen a case
but that had taken, in some form, a dose oFquinine while the
system was suffering from a chronic malarial toxemia."
The editor of the Calcutta Journal of Medicine says there is con-
siderable difficult}* in diagnosing the plague "During an epidemic
of pleague there is a tendency of the part of both professional and
laymen to seethe spectre of pleague in every case of disease."
Dr. DeWitt G. Wilcox, 597 Elmwood avenue, Buffalo, N. Y.,
Secretary of the Xew York State Homceopathic Medical Society,
announces that the semi-annual meeting of that society will be
held at Buffalo, beginning at 10 A. M. on September 24th. Head-
quarters will be at Statler's Hotel, adjoining the Exposition
grounds. The management of the Hotel Statler has reserved a
block of rooms for the exclusive use of the society. Rates, $2.00
toS4.oo per da}7. Sessions will be held in the morning, leaving
rest of day for sight-seeing.
Dr. J. S. Mitchell's treatment of cancer by Arsenicum 3X,
trituration, internally and the 2x of the same drug dusted on ex-
ternally still continues to give satisfactory results, Dr. Van
Duersen (AT. E. Med. Gas.) reporting three cases of epithelioma
of the face making good recovery under it.
In chronic sneezers Wyethia is sometimes the remedy.
Dr. Hurndall, author of Veterinary Homceopathy Applied to the
Horse, reports the cure of a tumor on scrotum of a dog with
Calcarea 30th, and another, about the mesentery, with Arsenicum
3d to 12th ( Monthly Horn. Rev.).
The British Homoeopathic Society has elected Dr. G. H. Bu-
ford President and Drs. J. R. Day and H. Xankivell Vice-Pres-
idents of that body.
Dr. Usshur reports a cure (Horn. World) of paralysis of the
lower limbs from walking through ice cold water, with Nux vom-
ica; also a case of "after passing wTater there is a terrible scalding
and throbbing sensation ; Cantharides removed the scalding, and
Kali card. 30th the throbbing.
Hahnemann — to go no further back — started the chronic dis-
ease theory of certain diseases originating from an inherited, con-
stitutional taint. He confined the "miasms" to three, psora,
43° Editorial.
syphilitic and gonorrhceic. To this Burnett has added the tuber-
culous miasm Necessarily on the line of this theory the miasm
creates the germ, and men who use Bacillinum or Tuberculinum,
etc., read (or claim to) beyond the present symptoms, or the
pathological state, and prescribe for the heredity of the patient.
Whether they are right, or even partly right, is an open question.
Certainly Burnett, whose honesty no one has ever questioned,
reports cures bordering on the marvellous, and his books are in-
teresting reading to say the very least of them. If one could nip
the incipient tuberculosis in the bud it wTould be a great triumph.
Dear! Dear! What a man is that iconoclast, Bradford! His old
" classmate" showed us his last letter; it is gingery, Carrie Na-
tion like, sort o' smashing, you know. Of course, no one will
dispute what Bradford says, but has he stopped to think what
would be the fate of the average medical journal were things to be
as he would have them ? Many would turn up their little toes to
the daisies were such things to come to pass, while the mighty
ones would shrink until their well kept garments would flutter
around their lean and hungry forms. Then, too, think of the fate
of the editors, hurled from wealth and affluence down to the
depths! Dreadful! It should not be.
Klebs is of the opinion that inhalation tuberculosis is very rare.
In between 4,000 and 5,000 autopsis he was able to discover but
one instance, which occurred in a yonng girl, who had nursed a
tuberculosis patient. And at this the Charlotte Med. Jour, in-
quires, " How did he know?" Not a bad query, that.
" Education," says an estimable exchange, " is the greatest foe
of superstition and ignorance, and this applies as fully to the
treatment of Christian Science as to the overthrow of the power of
the quack. " No one will dispute that until he takes a second shy
at it and remembers that education is rather more prevalent among
the " Christian Science " ladies than among others. "Supersti-
tion" is a word very difficult to agree upon; it depends on your
standards. " All is vanity," said he of old.
We find this in Journal oj Medicine a?id Science: " Dr. Rev re-
ports 32 cases of night terrors in children in all of which adenoids
were present in the naso-pharyngeal vault, and when these were
removed, the nightmare ceased. He, therefore, concluded that
adenoids is a common underlying cause of this trouble."
Editorial 431
The Third Annual Meeting of "The Old Guard" was held
in the Palmer House (Parlor O'1. June 4, 1901, at 3:30 p. m., with
W. W. Estabrooke in the chair.
The membership includes homoeopathic physicians who have
been graduates in medicine for 30 years, residing in Chicago and
vicinity. The oldest member present shall preside.
The 40th anniversary of any member shall be observed. — -By-
Taws.
Three Chicago physicians reached their 40th medical anniver-
sary this year: Drs. H. C. Allen, E. M. P. Ludlam, and C. A. Will-
iams and their anniversaries were observed.
Last year they celebrated the Medical Jubilee of J. E. Gross,
M. D., E. W. Wood, M. D., and "How I Became a Homoeopath,"
was answered by Drs. Adam Miller (set. 91, '47), W. W. Easta-
brooke ('47), E. Lathrop ('47), J. E. Gross ('50), E. W. Wood,
C50), L. S. Ingman ('58). These reminiscences were enlivened
by some amusing incidents. There are twenty physicians enrolled
who graduated over forty years ago I It is interesting to learn
how they came to adopt similia as their guide in practice.
The experiences of members were given with many drugs.
The following resolutions were adopted:
Whereas, We yearly appreciate the grand and benign in-
fluence of Homoeopathy and firmly believe that its general ac-
ceptance would result for a better knowledge of its principles by
the present generation of physicians and people; therefore, be it
Resolved, That more active effort should be made by our vari-
ous organizations to advance the cause. We especially recommend
that the monuments to Hahnemann, histories and significances,
should be published in popular form (by the American Institute
of Homoeopathy, or some other body or firm) for general distribu-
tion.
Resolved, That the veterans in our ranks should contribute
their experience with our remedies in the practice of medicine ac-
cording to similia, and that a committee be appointed to take this
matter in charge.
(Drs. Duncan, Woodward and Evans were appointed by the
chair.)
Resolved, That each member of the Old Guard be requested to
tell " How I Became a Homoeopath," and to send it to the Secre-
tary for publication.
The membership includes many old physicians outside of
Chicago who are enthusiastic homoeopaths. The dues were made
fifty cents a year. One object of this organization is to pay
proper respect to the deceased physicians by being represented at
the funeral.
The officers elected were: President. (The oldest member
present); Vice President, W. W. Eastabrook; Treasurer, J. E.
Gross; Secretary, T. C. Duncan.
The annual meeting is held the first Tuesdav in June.
D.
PERSONALS.
With the close of the tenth volume the Journal of Orificial Surgery
ceased to exist. Dr. Pratt will continue his literary work in book form.
Pottering about gardens is said to be conducive to living to a green old
age.
When will the germ theory cease to be a theory and become fact or
fancy ?
Mumm's the word when ona" quiet time."
No, Marj-, when a man " beats the baud " it does not necessarily mean
that he is a musical defaulter.
A St. Louis man was given 25,000 units of antitoxin in twenty-three days.
Don't be too fresh in saying " give the devil his due."
The big medical jurnals of to-day are largely reprints of each other.
Who is Johnson ?
Never question the circulation of the Daily Buzz Saw.
Dr. Lawrence's new work on practice will probably be the most popular
one among students ever published. Out in October.
No, Mary, tar cordial does not give pitch to the voice.
Life is not a failure; its the duffer who says so.
Geo. Ade says: " One cannot Rest except after steady practice."
Filling in, or drainage, beats petroleum in abaiting mosquitoes and is
more lasting.
No, Mr. Medical Visitor, "a million dollar president " is not necessarily
a millionaire.
Some things cost more than they are worth.
Five a. m. is said to be the coldest hour of the twenty-four.
Get a copy of Nash's Regional Leaders and quiz yourself on the " key-
notes." Being " regional " it is good to hunt up queer symptoms in differ-
ent parts of the body.
Dr. S. B. Chapman has accepted a chair in the faculty of Hering College.
" To a valet no man is a hero." — Goethe.
" No man is a hero to his valet." — CornueL
The " Concert of Europe " is a rather costly one.
" Look before you leap " does not apply to the bent-pin-in-the-chair
times.
" A penny saved is a penny earned " — and the fun of spending it is lost.
Cooking should rank among the fine arts.
Subscribe for the Homoeopathic Recorder.
THE
Homoeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa., October, 1901. No. 10
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Seventeenth Annual Session.
Year i860.)
The seventeenth annual session of the American Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in the Homoeopathic College, on Filbert
street, Philadelphia, Pa., beginning on June 6th, i860, the meet-
ing being opened, in the absence of the Secretaries, by P. P.
Wells, M. D., a former President.
Wm. E. Payne, M. D., of Bath. Me., was elected Chairman
pro tern. After the roll was called and corrections made the mem-
bers present proceeded with the election of officers, appointing
Drs. J. R. Coxe, Jr., C. H. Skiff and Walter Williamson as Tellers.
E. C. Witherill, M. D., Cincinnati, was elected President: Jacob
Beakley, M. D., New York, General Secretary, Henry M. Smith,
M. D., New York, Provisional Secretary; and C. H. Skiff, M. D.,
Brooklyn, Treasurer.
The Board of Censors was S. R. Beckwith, M. D., Cleveland,
O.; J. R. Piper, M. D., Washington, D. C; J. D. Middleton, M.
D., Baltimore, Md.; L. Dodge, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y. ; and G. D.
Beebe, M. D., Chicago, 111.
The President appointed J. P. Dake, M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; I.
M. Ward, M. D., Newark, X. J ; J. R. Coxe, Jr., M. D., Phila-
delphia, Pa.; W. E. Payne, M. D., Bath, Me.; and S. M. Cate,
M. D., Salem, Mass., as the committee to audit the Treasurer's
Report.
C. H. Skiff, M. D., presented the Treasurer's Report, which
was audited and pronounced correct by the Committee.
434 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
D. M. Dake, M. D., presented his report on Medical Education,
which was at first laid on the table, but afterward taken up and
ordered to be referred to the Committee on Publication.
W. E. Payne, M. D., presented the report of the Central
Bureau on the Materia Medica. Dr. Payne had made some prov-
ings of Glonoine, which, with an accidental proving by Dr. J. G.
Wood, of Salem, Mass., and one by Dr. Isaac Colby, of Concord,
N. H., made a very interesting and important document, which
was published in the Proceedings.
Drs. B. F. Joslin and Edw. Bayard reported personal provings
of Inulahelenium, which was published in full in the Proceedings.
Dr. P. P. Wells asserted that Dr. Hering published a full prov-
ing of Glonoine in his work on American Provings, which he
hoped would soon be translated from the German, on account of
the information which it contained.
Dr. R. Ludlam furnished his report on Stomatitis Mater?ia,
which was very full and complete, giving the nature and action
of the disease, the remedies and treatment, together with the
effect of each remedy.
Dr. N. H. Warner was granted another year for the prepara-
tion of his paper on Bi-carbonate of Potassa, etc.
Dr. H. D. Paine was continued on the subject of Diphtheria,
not having had time enough to prepare a full report.
Dr. T. W. Donovan, having no report to offer on I?itermitte?it
Fever, was discontinued.
Dr. W. A. Reed, on the Determinatio?i of Medical Truths, was
granted more time.
S. S. Guy, M. D., on Anesthesia in Midwifery, G. W. Swazey,
M. D , on Medical Dynamics-, J. A. Tarbell, M. D., on Diseases
of the Eye; W. H. Watson, M. D., on Phthisis Pulmonalis, and
T. W. Donovan M. D., on Diabetes, were each discontinued, hav-
ing no reports ready upon their subjects.
Dr. S. M. Cate stated his experience with Pareira brava, but
had not obtained sufficient provings to make a report.
Dr. I. T. Talbot was granted more time on the subject of
Auscultation and Percussion and their Therapeutic Relations.
Additional time was also granted to R. Gardiner, M. D.. on
Ulce7ration of the Mucous Mei?ibra?ie; D Holt, M. D., on The
Relation of Pathology to Therapeutics, and G. E. Shipman, M. D.,
on Parasites in Connection with Disease.
Dr. I. M. Ward was continued on Mechanical Supports in the
Treatment of Diseases.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 435
Dr. S. R. Beckwith, Chairman of the Board of Censors, report-
ed the names of forty-seven gentlemen as qualified for member-
ship, who were elected as follows : —
Henry Ahlborn, M. D. , Marblehead, Mass.; James T. Alley,
M. D., Henry M. Smith, M. D., Thos. Franklin Smith, M. D.,
of Xew York; F. S. Bradford, M. D., Charleston, S. C; John
Brown,. M. D., Lynn, Mass.; Charles S. Buckner, M. D., Balti-
more, Md.; J. B. L. Clay, M. D., Moorestown, X. J.; J. F.
Cushing, M. D., Covington, Ky.; J. W. Dake, M. D.. Warsaw,
N. Y.; Carroll Dunham, M. D., Xewburgh, N. Y.; John W. Fox,
M. D., Covington, Ky.; William E. Freeman, M. D., Wilming-
ton, X. C; Owen B. Gause, M. D., Trenton, X. J.; J. R. Hamil-
ton, M. D., Skowhegan, Wis.; William H. Holcombe, M. D.,
Waterproof, La.; I. D.Johnson, M. D., Kennett Square, Pa.;
Joseph Moore, M. D., Bridgeton, N. J.; Charles Morrill, M. D.,
Xorwalk, Ohio; James H. Payne, M. D., Bangor, Me.; Edward
Reading, M. D., Hatboro, Pa.; Edward J. Record, M. D., Wood-
bury, X. J.: Charles M. Samson, M. D., Brooklyn, X. Y. ; John
C. Sanders, M. D., Cleveland, O.; J. W. Smith, Jr., M. D.,
Brooklyn, X. Y.; Jacob S. Stehman, M. D., Lancaster, Pa ; E.
B. Thomas, M. D., Cincinnati, O. ; George S. Terrill, M. D.,
Cleveland, O.; Theodore C. White, M. D., Detroit, Mich.; O. C.
Wood, M. D., Phcenixville, Pa.; Anthony H. Worthington, M.
D.. and Silas S. Brooks, M. D., Samuel Brown, M. D., William
Brown. M. D., William C. Harbison. M. D., J. R. Lee, M. D.,
Robert J. McClatchey, M. D., George J. McLeod, M. D., John
Malin, M. D., Thomas Moore, M. D., Jacob Reed, Jr., M. D ,
James L. Scott, M. D., George R. Starkey, M. D , William Stiles,
M. D., Daniel M. Tindall, M. D , Charles E. Toothaker, M. D.,
DavidS. Trites, M. D., all of Philadelphia.
Dr. M. J. Rhees sent a communication stating that he had been
unable to make provings of Chimaphila umbellata, but that he
had the article and would furnish it to members who wished to
make provings. The letter was placed on file.
Dr. Walter Williamson presented an interesting report on
" Medical Ethics" which was published in full in the transactions.
Dr. Henry M. Smith presented an artic'e on Apis in Albumi-
nuria, by Dr. B. F. Joslin, referring to the medicines used by him
in the treatment of the disease and their effects upon the patients
under his care, with assurance of the cure resulting from their
use. The paper was published in full.
436 American Institute of Homceopathy.
Dr. D. M. Dake made an interesting and finely written article
an Medical Education, which was published in full.
Drs. C. Hering, P. P. Wells, and J. P. Dake were appointed
by the Chair as a committee to nominate members on Scientific
Subjects.
In the evening, F. R. McManus, M. D., of Baltimore, delivered
the annual address, taking for his subject Homoeopath}7 and the
efficacy of small doses.
He spoke feelingly of the happiness of meeting once more with
the members of the Institute and thanked God for His bountiful
goodness in permitting them to thus unite in the cause and for the
advancement of their beloved science. He said the very name of
Homoeopath)^ inspired an enthusiastic love which no other name
on earth could inspire, and he recalled the tribulations through
which it had passed in the twenty-five years that he had been con-
nected with its practice. He had seen the days when all who be-
lieved in its doctrines were ridiculed and those who were treated
by its methods were either afraid or ashamed to acknowledge it.
They were even known to go behind a door when they took a
powder rather than submit to the sneers of the enemies. Its fol-
lowers had pressed forward, however, with unparalleled firmness
and perseverance and had lived to see the seed sprout, grow and
flourish until its influence spread to the limits of the civilized
world. They had lived down all opposition until some of the
most violent enemies had rallied under its standard and the rest
looked on with eyes of envy and jealousy instead of contempt and
pity.
Dr. McManus then spoke of the importance of life and the ne-
cessity for preserving it against disease. For this medicines were
discovered and used, but while the medicinal qualities were proper
for the preservation of life, poisonous properties were present that
would probably counteract the remedial property or even cause
serious results, if not death.
Samuel Hahnemann understood this, and it was to his genius
and his exhaustless patience and industry that the world is in-
debted for the process by which poison is eliminated from medi-
cines and the curative powers retained and prepared for profes-
sional use. This alone erects a perpetual monument to his
memory and gives him a reputation that will live through unborn
generations. The practice established by him is remarkable for
its beauty, simplicity and safety. It was his right to use the God-
American Institute of Ho7noeopathy. 437
given talents bestowed upon him in seeking the means by which
to ameliorate the sufferings and cure the diseases of his fellowmen.
Among his critical opponents were hundreds who denounced and
abused him until his heart well-nigh despaired, but he persevered
until a few, who yet objecting to his doctrines, were generous
enough to praise him. Professor Valentine Mott, who visited
Hahnemann, afterwards spoke of him as "one of the most ac-
complished and scientific physicians of the present age." Pro-
fessor James McXaughton, once President of the New York State
Medical Society, said that it was wrong to denounce the system
established by Hahnemann as an absurd delusion imposed upon
public credulity. It is founded on experiment and observation,
and may be erroneous, but whether true or false it at least has the
right to be investigated before it is condemned. If homoeopathic
remedies are efficacious they should be tried, and if more success-
ful than the old remedies they should certainly be used. He re-
peated that it was unwise for the members of the dominant pro-
fession to ignore or denounce the new system without further in-
quiry. As the history of the old school had already displayed
many errors it was wise to examine the proposed improvement
before finally resisting its advances.
Hufeland, of Germany, also warned against too great an an-
tagonism to the new theory, because to his mind it offered to lead
the profession to the safe path of observation and experience, and
it furnished simplicity in the treatment of diseases. Professor
Broussais, of France, publicly advised thorough investigation of
Hahnemann's Homoeopathy before condemning it. He said that
many distinguished scientists had examined it and some were fully
convinced of its importance; therefore it must be investigated so
as to find the truth it contained, and it was unprofessional and un-
wise to condemn it without a hearing. Professor Breera, of Italy,
also advised careful study of the doctrine of Hahnemann, saying
that it was foolish to imagine that there was nothing to learn in
the practice of medicine. He reminded his hearers that there
were often complaints of the imperfection of the dominant system
of coping with diseases. It was wise, then, to examine into the
promised advance to the better treatment, because serious opposi-
tion had always met the greatest discoveries.
In England, Dr. J. G. Millingan, in his " Curiosities of Medi-
cal Experience," says: " The mere hope of relieving society from
the curse of constant drugging should be the cause of gratitude
438 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
that would hail homoeopathic investigations." He thought that
persecution was unjust and that the system must in some measure
lead to improved practice in medicine. He, too, remarked that
the very prejudice and intolerance with which Homoeopathy had
met were but a repetition of the antagonism shown to every great
progression in human enterprise. He thought far wiser to ac-
knowledge ignorance and to study and investigate carefully be-
fore denouncing against a doctrine of which the general profession
had no knowledge whatever. From such high authority Hahne-
mann and his discoveries at least obtained a hearing. They were
brave enough to lay aside professional intolerance and give to
Hahnemann's genius and learning the credit that they fully de-
served.
Dr. McManus defined Homoeopathy, from two Greek words,
homoios and pathos, meaning similar disease or affection, as a
system of medical practice by which diseases are cured with
minute doses of medicines upon the principle Similia Similibus
Curantur. The precise quantity of the dose is not as essential a
point of Homoeopathy, as is the principle of cure. And this
principle is simply — medicines are given in small doses to cure
symptoms or disease in the sick precisely similar to the symp-
toms, or disease, which the same medicines would produce, in
large doses, upon the healthy. He explained the effects of large
and small doses of the same drug upon individuals, using Epsom
Salts, Colocynth, Opium and other medicines in his explanation.
He told of a remark made by Professor Eberle, a noted allopathic
authority, in explaining the operation of Mercury and Calomel,
who said: " Mercury may prove remediate, first, by producing a
new and peculiar excitement in the system, and thereby over-
coming the morbid excitement. It is in this way, probably, that
Mercury removes disease when exhibited in such doses as to pro-
duce no sensible evacuations or affections of the system." In
diarrhoea, he states, Calomel, judiciously managed, is a remedy
of great efficacy. In minute doses (mark this), it allays morbid
intestinal irritation more readily than any remedy we possess "
Dr. McManus said, that as Professor Eberle was an unim-
peachable allopathic authority his word must be accepted, and as
a proof of the truth of the homoeopathic law there could be no
stronger corroboration. He explained that in case of poison the
small dose was not used, because there was in that case abnormal
conditions that required stronger measures. In case of necessity
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 439
surges was also used, but in usual diseases the small doses of
selected remedies were the law. Another very important point,
elucidated by the speaker, was that homoeopathic medicine acted
only upon diseased tissues, consequently they produced no evil
effects upon healthy systems. The secret of Homoeopathy is that
the remedies are applicable to the diseases for which they are
prescribed and to none other. They are neither poisonous nor
mechanical, because in the homoeopathic preparation these prop-
erties are eliminated and only the medicinal parts retained.
Dr. McMauus then explained that while the allopathic treat-
ment acted upon disease, by creating irritation in another part of
the bod}-, Homoeopathy acts upon the nerves of the diseased por-
tion alone. For instance, he said, for a violent headache a ca-
thartic was prescribed by the old school physician, which if it
relieved the head produced for a time an irritation in the bowels;
Homoeopathy would act directly upon the nerves of the head and
allow the stomach to retain its normal condition. He also ex-
plained the conditions existing in healthy and in diseased organs,
and the manner in which the properties of different remedies
acted upon them. Until within the last few years the great
object had been to find how great an amount of medicine could be
safely prescribed without proving destructive. Xow, Homoeopathy
has so far won its way as to prove that small doses are success-
ful, and now the enormous quantities are no longer in use.
Hahnemann knew of the danger of these immense doses and he
tried to obviate it while retaining their curative qualities. That
he succeeded beyond his own hopes has been abundantly proven,
while his success has caused a spirit of investigation among his
most adverse enemies.
Dr. McManus then criticised the absurd statements made by
Dr. Simpson, whose prominence in allopathy should have pre-
vented him from giving voice to commutations and explanations
whose very illustrations would amuse a school boy. Dr. Simpson
carried his satire too far and thus left for himself a monument far
from desirable. He sent forth his book as an elucidation of
Hahnemann's doctrine and turned the laugh upon himself, as the
rising generation beheld how mistaken and misrepresenting his
so called explanations were. In truth, the great doctor provoked
further investigation and led his readers to know that so long as
a particle of medicine, or any other matter, remains there remains
with it its intrinsic qualities. Homoeopathy proves this, and
44° American Institute of Homoeopathy .
though it does not depend upon decillionth doses it can and does
cure the disease of minute cells with minute quantities of the
proper remedies.
Dr. McManus said he would not say that diseases are not cured
by allopathic treatment any more than he would say that travelers
were never transferred from one place to another by stage coaches,
but he would sustain that Homoeopathy was as much an improve-
ment upon Allopathy as the railroad was upon the stage coach.
He said the great objection to the system was its simplicity, which
was also the objection to Jenner's system of vaccination from the
cow virus; while the world's opposition to the Messiah had been
the simplicity of His birth, life and teachings.
It was said that Hahnemann deceived the public, but Dr. Mc-
Manus failed to see in what the deception consisted, except indeed
that his treatment, acting almost imperceptibly, cured without the
patient's knowledge so far as any inconvenience occurred. Others
would not discuss the new system for fear of the judgment of
their colleagues in the old profession. Such an one, Dr. Mc-
Manus felt, was not suitable to be trusted with so sacred a thing
as human life.
In conclusion he reviewed the growth of the Institute of
Homoeopathy which stood prominent as one of the finest organ-
izations in the world, and of Homoeopathy whose followers were
counted by the thousands and its believers daily multiplied. He
exhorted the Institute members to hold together as a band of
brothers, defending the sacred cause of Homoeopathy ; ever sus-
taining the noble maxim, "In truth, unity ; in doubt, liberty; in
all things, charity."
At the close the doctor received a vote of thanks and a request
for a copy for publication, and on motion of Dr. E. J. Record it
was decided to have five thousand copies of the address printed
and distributed to members.
At the Thursday morning meeting Drs. P. P. Wells and W. E.
Payne were appointed a committee to select the time and place
for the next meeting. They selected Cincinnati, on the first
Wednesday in June, 1861, which was adopted by the Institute.
A report was received from the Homoeopathic Medical Society
of Chester County, Pa., giving a short history of the Society, and
accepting the invitation to become auxiliary to the Institute. Re-
port was filed and printed.
A report from the Philadelphia Homoeopathic Medical Society
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 441
was also received, giving a short history of the Association with
the subjects of some of the most important papers contributed
by its members. The Report was printed.
The Sixth Annual Report of the Central Homoeopathic Dispen-
sary of New York was received from Dr. B. F. Joslin, giving a
short history of the dispensary and naming a part of the benefits
which it had been instrumental in bestowing upon those who
needed medical assistance. Printed in full.
The annual report of the Northern Home for Friendless Chil-
dren was received from Bushrod W. James, M. D., attending
physician, who reported very satisfactory results from homoeo-
pathic treatment. In an epidemic of Ophthalmia, not one case had
been left with defective vision, while but four deaths had occurred
during the year among one hundred and forty-eight cases, though
malignant Scarlet Fever had been prevalent.
H. D. Paine, M. D., reported that he had been unable to pro-
cure a full set of the proceedings of the Institute for the Smith-
sonian Institute because the earlier numbers had not been pre-
served in the archives. The report was ordered to be filed for the
present.
Dr. Paine forwarded the resolution: "That a committee be
appointed to prepare commemorative notices of such members of
the Institute as have died during the year, and that their report
be incorporated with the proceedings of the Institute." The res-
olution was adopted and Dr. Paine appointed as that committee.
Dr. Paine also communicated the resolution: "That any mem-
ber neglecting or refusing the payment of his annual dues for
years shall be considered to have forfeited their member-
ship, and if, after being notified of his indebtedness by the
Secretary or Treasurer, he shall still neglect to pay, his name
shall be omitted from the published list." On motion of Dr. P.
P. Wells, the communication was laid on the table.
Dr. B. Fincke read an elaborate and useful article on Homoeo-
pathic Notation, which was published in full.
A report of the Medical Board of the Homoeopathic Dispensary
of the South-eastern portion of Philadelphia was received from
Richard Gardiner, M. D., telling of its formation and usefulness.
Printed with the proceedings.
Dr. L. M. Kenyon read a paper on Gelsemium, which was
published on motion of Dr. G. D. Beebe.
On motion of Dr. P. P. Wells, Dr. W. K. Payne was requested
442 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
to give his experience with the drug, which he did, stating his
belief in its efficacy in diseases of the eye, especially Amaurosis and
Amblyopia.
Upon Dr. P. P. Wells, request, Dr. J. R. Cox, Jr., also stated
his experience with the remedy, and gave quite an extensive ac-
count of its effects and his faith in its curative qualities for some
forms of intermittent fevers.
Dr. J. P. Dake, from the Committee on Scientific Subjects, re-
ported the following appointments :
Whooping Cough, C. Neidhard, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa. ;
Tabes Mesenterica, R. Ludlam, M, D., Chicago, 111.; Uterine
Hemorrhage, P. P. Wells, M. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Characteris-
tic Symptoms of Medicine, C. Hering, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.;
Intermittent Fever, Its Homoeopathic Treatment, W. Williamson,
M. D., Philadelphia, Pa. ; Homoeopathic Repertories, Carroll
Dunham, M. D., Newburgh, N. Y. ; Diabetes, W. E. Payne, M.
D., Bath, Me.; Homoeopathic Notation, B. Fincke, M. D., Brook-
lyn, X. Y. ; Bi-carbonate of Potassa, Tartrate of Potassa and
Carbonate of Soda as Articles of Diet, N. H. Warner, M. D.,
Buffalo, N. Y.; Diphtheria, H. D. Paine, M. D., Albany, X. Y. ;
Determination of Medical Truths, W. A. Reed, M. D., Phila
delphia, Pa.; Pareira Brava, S. M. Cate, M. D., Salem, Mass.;
Auscultation and Percussion and their Therapeutic Relations, I.
T. Talbot, M. D , Boston, Mass.; Ulceration of Mucous Mem-
brane, R. Gardiner, M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; Relation of Pathol-
ogy to Therapeutics, D. Holt, M. D., Lowell, Mass.; Parasites
in Diseases, G. E. Shipman, M. D., Chicago, 111.; Xanthoxylon,
or the Prickly Ash, L. M. Kenyon, M. D., Buffalo, X. Y.; Uses
of the Microscope, S. R. Beckwith, M. D., Cleveland, O.
Drs. P. P. Wells, J. F. G. Geary, F. R. McManus, S. Gregg,
D. M. Dake, S. R. Beckwith, J. Jeanes and W. Williamson had
quite a discussion upon Croup, each giving his experience and
mode of treatment. Dr. W7ells gave Dr. Boenninghausen's mode
of treatment, which had cured three hundred cases of Membra-
nous Croup. Nearly all agreed to the peculiar efficacy of Aconite,
Hepar Sulphur and Spongia.
At the afternoon session the Chairman announced the appoint-
ment of Dr. W. W. Rodman, of Xew Haven, to deliver the next
annual address, and Dr. P. P. Wells, of Brooklyn, as his alternate.
On motion of Dr. J. P. Dake, Drs. B. Joslin, E. E. Marcy and
Jacob Beakley were continued the Committee for publishing the
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 443
articles in the American Homoeopathic Review, in accordance
with the resolution adopted June 2, 1859.
The Central Bureau remained as before in membership, and
Drs. W. Williamson, S. Gregg, and F. R. McManus were appoint-
ed a Committee on Clinical Experiences.
Dr. J. P. Dake offered the following Declaration of Principles:
Resolved, That we adopt and order to be printed annually in a
Journal of Proceedings the following brief "Declaration of
Principles;"
1 . That the law of cure discovered by Hahnemann and set forth
in the terms Similia Similibus Curantur is universal in its control
of medicinal means. (The term medicinal being used for all
curative means which are not chemical, mechanical or hygienic.)
2. That the law, thus set forth, requires a Materia Medica such
as can be supplied only by the provings of those means upon
persons in health.
3. That the nature of all pathogenetic means and especially
their homoeopathic relationship to particular diseases requires the
employment of the least dose that experience proves to be ef-
ficiently curative, and never can allow such as might prove de-
structive of life.
4. That the Homoeopathic Law requires all medicines to be
used singly and not in combination one with others.
5. That the system of practice founded upon the Homoeopathic
Law, not only allows, but calls for the cultivation of all those
branches of science which can be tributary to the art of healing.
This Declaration was discussed by Drs. J. R. Coxe, Jr., Beakley,
Geary, Cate, Beebe, Beckwith, McManus, Payne and J. P. Dake.
On motion of Dr. McManus, the resolutions were laid on the
table.
Dr. P. P. Wells presented an elaborate article on "The Dose
in Drug Provings," written by Carroll Dunham, M. D., which
was printed in full in the Proceedings.
At the evening session Drs. E. C. Witherill, J. H. Pulte, E. B.
Thomas, A. Bauer and F. Ehrman were appointed a Committee
of Arrangements for the next annual meeting.
The first annual report of the Homoeopathic Infirmary, of Phil-
adelphia, was presented by Bushrod W. James, M. D., Secretary,
giving a favorable report of its dispensary, considering the low
state of the treasury. In the year nearly twelve hundred cases
had been treated with success, and 4,582 prescriptions had been
444 Homoeopathy.
dispensed. Surg ses had been- ssful tout
the knife, and but one death had occurred in the b )S] ttal. The
report was published in full.
The Sixth Annual Re the American Provers Uni
received and prim.
Dr. G. D. Beebe announce., the
College, of Chicago.
Dr. C. Hering presented a paper Iphtheria," which
printed in full.
Dr. S. M. Cate offered the following resolnti which
adopted:
Resolved, That we recara the H Law as oo-exten-
sive with disease, and that a resort to any other medical mej -
than those pointed out by the law — Similia Similibus Curantur
is the result, in part, of the incompleteness of our Materia Medica,
in part, of a want of sufficient knowledge on the par: of the phy-
sicians, of those remedies already possessed by our School, and
not from any insufficiency of the Homoeopathic ha v.
Dr. W. A. Reed presented a:: acceptable design tor a iiploma
On motion of Dr. J. P. Dake the committee was continued, and
on motion of Dr. S. Gregg it was ordered to have tour hundred
printed from the copper plate.
Dr. P. P. Wells made a motion that all bills incurred :*a pro-
curing the diploma should be paid at once. Carried;
Dr. L. Dodge made a mot;:: that all members not in arrears
be furnished with a diploma U] ing fifty cents. Carried.
Dr. S. Gregg moved the adoption of the amendment to Article
IV., as noted by Dr. W. E. Payne at the meeting of the Institute
in June, 1858. The amendment was carried,
Dr. J. P. Dake moved that the name President be permanently
substituted for Chairman. Carried.
Dr. W. A. Reed moved that the Secretary be instructed to have
the diplomas filled out in uniform style Carried.
He also moved that on the afternoon of the se iy the
Institute proceed to the election of officers tor the meeting.
motion was postponed indefinitely.
The Secretaries and Treasurer were appointed a committee to
publish the Proceedings.
Thanks were ret: the officers for their sei s to the
daily papers for their correct reports of the meetings, to the man-
agers of the College for the use of their hall, to Drs. Williamson
H - to Study Materia Medico. uuf
and Gardiner for the kind entertainment ma t: the Railroa:
Com] r their reductnn :: tarts t: tne mem err- : tne
[nstitute.
nry D. ] :er ::-. : tot: thing
Riel -' * - - ; m M. I : Xew Y wrk;
Rot Rosman X. X. :: X. V iinand L. Wilse
f Bergen X. J., and Isaac Z X: X .of Hudson
7 [nstitute then adjourned to meet in Cincinnati on the drst
XX lues lay in June., 1S61.
HOW TO STUDY MATERIA MEDICA.
By T. L. Bradford. M, D.
How shall I ever urtderstan : the Materia Medical- Hot study it
ittteiiig-ettti:-- v What did Dr. Henry X. Guernsey mean when he
that the genius of tit, iisease and the remedy aid
not correspond ?
These are questions often iske the medical student. :
course, my friend, you una ;rstan : the it : a: :e jpathic laws of prcv-
the means by which the s; ? X the many drugs used
ir School are first ted. Now you wish t: disctver some
:Come familiar with the more com-
monly used reme - at the mind getting tangled in a
labyrinth of m ms For it is indeed discouraging to
the ueophyte to look at the immense record X the ten volumes oz
ings collected by Dr. T. ?. Allen m 1 his editcrs. and known
as Allen's £>:;_:;.': r.s :■:':•. Then there is Hering s ' X .X
also in ten large lanes: the Materia fedica Pura, of
Hahnemann: JahrX v ns volumes known as the 5w»:r.v-
m Codex; XureX B>\i : :".*; : py;i Xg\jv Metcalf's pr:::»:^s;
= Tz.v: B.\-k: Hering' s lX»:.:V': XXmX.z XXXduv Farriug-
ton's Clinical Materia Medica; Hughes's Pharmacodynamics;
Hoyne's CdXXX XI: ".mra;:!-/ .• the Materia Medica :: Teste,
Hartmann, Gross and >€hers. And when the student lock- at
these collectic is f drug results it > little ■ nder that he he; mes
uraged.
Now Hahnemann left plain directions :: his followers for rind-
ing the true homoeopathic similimum.
Note down carefully ail the symptoms : the case letting tlte
patient Lo the talking and if possible do not ask leading ques-
446 How to Study Materia Medica.
tious. Then by means of an intelligent use of the repertory find
the remedy that is capable of producing the majority of these
symptoms, and give it in a dose just large enough to complete the
cure without producing a medicinal aggravation.
But to do this one must know something of the remedies and
the symptoms produced by each upon the healthy. Fortunately,
in the symptoms of each remedy are to be found certain well
marked, distinct, and peculiar symptoms characteristic to the
remedy in question and not to be found in any other. These
symptoms have been called keynotes, and to these we may look
for sure results. They have been obtained by verifying, over
and over, some peculiar symptom, and noting that the remedy
containing that symptom never failed to cure a case in which
the symptom was present. These verified symptoms, of which
there are but a few belonging to each remedy, are known
as characteristics or keynotes. Now provided that the student
becomes familiar with these keynotes, of even the polychrests, as
the more commonly used medicines are called, it will be compara-
tively easy for him to add to this knowledge from time to time,
until he has a fair insight into the wonderful treasures of the ho-
moeopathic materia medica. And by this method he may learn
the important symptoms peculiar to each remedy so that a picture
of the remedy is formed in the mind, and a duplicate disease
picture will certainly suggest the proper drug picture. Then will
the genius of the disease and the remedy correspond.
It is not to be supposed that the student on leaving college will
be a master of materia medica. That is the work of a life time.
But there need be no confusion or uncertainty in its study while
he is in college if this plan be followed: Briefly memorize the key-
notes of the Materia Medica and he will have at hand a collection
of guides to the further study of the different remedies.
The great mistake is that the student looks at the great mass of
symptoms of which our Materia Medica is composed, sees that
many symptoms under the different remedies are similar to each
other, and becomes confused in selecting the right remedy. Yet
in the pathogenesis of each remedy certain symptoms appear that
are not to be found in any other. These are the ones to be first
mastered. And the student must not try to learn too much at
once.
The greatest accomplishments of man are the results of daily
study. It is like building a house, brick by brick, and in a little
while a massive and strong: wall results.
How to Study Materia Me die a. 447
Let each keynote be but one isolated brick in the wall of knowl-
edge of Materia Medica, and soon the bricks will fit themselves
nicely into place and the usefulness of each be understood. For
this study the following books will be of value to the student:
Burt's Characteristic Materia Medica; Hawkes's Characteris-
tics; Hering's Materia Medica Cards; H. C. Allen's Keynotes ;
the two books lately issued by E. B. Xash — Regional Leaders
and Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics ; Dewey's Essentials
of Ho??iceopathic Materia Medica.
Let the student take Allen's Key?iotes (Boericke & Tafel), or
Hawkes's Characteristics, select a remedy and commit to heart each
keynote under that remedy. After this has been done let him
read up the remedy in Xash's Leaders in Homoeopathic Thera-
peutics; in Dewey's Essentials of Ho??Keopathic Materia Medica;
and to pursue the study further read the careful analytic com-
parisons in Farrington's Clinical Materia Medica. While he is
doing this he is to think of no other remedy. Get the keynotes
and important symptoms of one remedy By the time he has fol-
lowed this course with these books and thought over the reinedy
and symptoms he will find a very perfect picture of the remedy
in his mind, and one not easily forgotten. Then another remedy
is to be taken, and so on. As the knowledge of the keynotes in-
creases comparisons will be instituted involuntarily.
And let the student ask himself, what is the reason of a key-
note ? Why will Aco?iite produce and consequently cure great
inconsolable anxiety, fear of death ? Why does the Aconite pa-
tient tingle all over, have fainting spells,, become worse on aris-
ing ? There is reason for it, and that reason understood will
greatly assist in the comprehension of the keynotes of Aconite.
And so we reach the genius of Aco?iite — Capillar}* Congestion.
As the student becomes familiar with a number of remedies,
distinctions may be made between the symptoms common to sev-
eral. Thus: Arsenic and Phosphorus both produce vomiting,
worse after drinking water. But the man who knows the key-
notes of both these remembers that the Arsenic patient vomits
just as soon as the water is swallowed, the Phosphorus patient
only after it has become warm in the stomach. Draw these dis-
tinctive lines carefully; do not be discouraged by slow -progress;
after the first few remedies are mastered knowledge and interest
will rapidly increase. And be sure this careful knowledge, this
power to discriminate between remedies, will come in very handy
448 How to Study Materia Medic a.
by the bedside of some poor sufferer and will prevent the necessity
for the anodyne, or the palliative, or any of the other makeshifts
of the lazy doctor. I say, and this is what Guernsey taught, and
Iyippe, and Hering, and Farrington; I say that if the student will
master Hawkes, and Allen, and Burt, and Nash, while he is in
college he need fear neither the examination in Materia Medica of
the college or the State Board, and he will acquire a certainty
in prescribing for disease that will go far to make him a homoeo-
path who practices what he preaches and who has no need for
eclectic and uncertain measures.
And a very little time each day throughout the college life will
be time enough to do this. And it is well to bear in mind that
Materia Medica should be one of the most important studies of
the homoeopathic physician. Hawkes's book can be carried in the
pocket, and so can that of Nash, and either is much better for a
student's pocket companion than " Billy Baxter's Letters."
Now, when we know the symptoms that a remedy will produce
it becomes easy to decide in what form of disease it is useful. On
seeing a certain disease one naturally thinks of a certain class of
remedies. Usually in questioning the patient some keynote pre-
sents itself and the remedy containing it comes at once to mind,
if the doctor is familiar with the keynotes. He can even greatly
surprise the patient by telling him how he feels if he follows the
pathological keynote-symptom. The finger post set up by some
pathological condition to point unerringly to the remedy that will
produce that condition. For there is a reason for every keynote.
A pathological reason; we may not understand it, but it is there.
Presupposing a human body in perfect health, one in which all
the physiological functions are acting normally, it must be that
whatever is taken into the body through mouth, nose or skin
that is not an aid to healthy nourishment must be an injury to
the normal action of the organs of life; must, in a word, disturb
the perfect equilibrium of health.
The effects of certain substances known as poisons are analagous
to certain abnormal states arising from unknown cause, called dis-
ease. It must be true that everything not useful in nutrition
must be detrimental to perfectly normal life. The first effort of
nature is to eliminate such a thing from the system as waste. In
direct proportion to the noxiousness of the disturbing substance
is the gravity of the effort to get rid of it. In this effort certain
symptoms may be observed, and nature uses the same symptoms
in every case to rid herself of the same poison.
How to Study Materia Medica. 449
A man who takes a dose of Arsenic will experience a marked
effect of discomfort dangerous in proportion to the amount of the
poison taken, so that to one familiar with these always present
symptoms that result from Arsenic when introduced into the
human body it is possible to understand that it is really Arsenic
that is making the man ill.
Each and every substance that produces abnormal effects upon
the system of man will always produce those effect^ in every man
subject to certain personal idiosyncrasies. While man}' sensations
resultant from poison differ in different men, yet there always must
be in all cases well-marked symptoms to point like finger posts to
the substance that has produced them.
Presupposing of each morbific state not produced by the direct
action of a drug or poison, that there is a certain drug or poison
that is capable of producing a similar state, then the important
symptoms, or keynotes, of the drug must correspond to the im-
portant symptoms produced by disease.
A man is ill, he has vomiting and diarrhoea, thirst, prostration.
weakness; I do not know what made him ill. But I do know that
Arsenic will produce a similar condition when it is given to a well
man. Now what is the pathological condition when Arsenic is
given? Irritation, congestion, inflammation of mucous surfaces
of the digestive organs. When these conditions result from some
unknown cause I see that they are the same that the Arsenic will
produce. The keynotes of A rscnic are present, vomiting, thirst,
diarrhoea, and they tell me as plainly as possible here is inflam-
mation of the intestines and stomach, gastritis, enteritis. Arseiiic
will produce it. Arse?iic will cure it.
Thus the keynotes or important symptoms produced by a drug
must always correspond to the pathological symptoms of the dis-
ease that the drug in question will produce.
In hunting for the keynote we must find the disease.
It is absurd to say that the man who depends on keynotes does
not understand the pathological changes going on in a patient.
He must of necessity, for from the keynotes he must be able to
determine the remedy that will produce the keynotes and also the
pathological condition similar to the disease present.
Hahnemann said that all that it was important to do was to
cure the patient by prescribing for the symptoms. What are
symptoms but manifestations of the morbific state known under
some dogmatic name ? Find the drug producing the symptoms
or nosological state and we cure according to the law of similar.
45° Regional Leaders.
With the keynotes as a guide the other minuter symptoms may
be also discovered. The important keynote may be a very pecu-
liar one, but whatever it is it certainly has a reason for being;
back of it there is the pathological change producing it. And
although we can not always explain the reason, there is a possible
explanation for every such keynote or important symptom that
manifests itself.
And the man who makes himself master of the symptoms of
the homoeopathic materia medica will never need to use any other
than homoeopathic remedies in healing the sick.
REGIONAL LEADERS.*
By T. L. Bradford, M. D.
Years ago Dr. Hering, realizing the confusion for the beginner
in the multiplicity of symptoms of the homoeopathic materia
medica, devised certain cards to assist in their study. Upon one
side of the card was printed an important symptom, on the reverse
its name. He called them Materia Medica Cards, and advised the
student to read the symptoms and guess at the remedy, or if
memory waited not on thought to look on the other side. This
became a very popular method of studying materia medica. The
first four volumes of Hering's journal, the American Journal of
Hoynoeopathic Materia Medica contain many of these characteristic
symptoms. Dr. Lippe taught materia medica hy emphasizing
these characteristics; so also did Dr. H. N. Guernsey. In 1869
Dr. W. H. Burt made an exhaustive compilation of these char-
acteristics or keynotes, collecting them from all sources and giv-
ing the name of the physician responsible for the symptom. Dr.
Guernsey lecturing to the students of the Hahnemann Medical
College, of Philadelphia, laid great stress on the keynotes of the
remedies; in fact, his lectures were really talks on keynotes.
These lectures were published as reported by Dr. J. C. Guernsey,
his son, as a supplement to Vols. 5, 6 of the Am. Journal of Horn.
Mat. Medica, and afterwards in book form. Some years since Dr.
W. J. Hawkes, of Chicago, published a very practical book on
keynotes, in which the symptoms were printed on one side of the
page only, leaving room for notes and addition of symptoms. It
* Regional Leaders, by Dr. E. B. Nash, Philadelphia. Boericke&Tafel,
1901.
Regional Leaders. 451
is said that the students in the Hahnemann Medical College, of
Chicago, where Dr. Hawkes lectures on Materia Medica, are
required to memorize these symptoms.
Several collections of keynotes have been published since, not-
ably one by Dr. H. C. Allen. Dr. T. F. Allen also prepared and
had printed a small book of keynotes in which the symptom is on
one side of the page, the name of the remedy on the other; this
has never been published.
But in all these collections there has been one serious defect.
In each the remedies are arranged alphabetically and under each
remedy its keynotes. But previous to the publication of Regional
Leaders there has been no attempt to classify keynotes according
to the region of the body to which they refer. So that although
a keynote was known it could only be, without knowledge of the
drug, located through the seductive bafflement of the repertories
or by going over one by one the collections of the keynotes.
Now usually the keynote as told by patient to physician refers
to some part of the body, head, eyes, ears, stomach, extremities,
and it is obvious that a collection of keynotes arranged under the
parts of the body must be of vastly more practical value to student
and physician And this is what Dr. Nash has very aptly done.
To be sure, certain therapeutic pocket manuals give the important
remedies but the classification is under diseases, it is simply
nosological.
But in Regional Leaders Dr. Nash has placed under mind the
mental keynotes; under head, those of the head, and so on, taking
the parts of the body from head to extremities. There are
sections on sleep and dreams, chill, fever and sweat, skin, bones,
generalities, causes and modalities, and last but not least, consti-
tution and temperament. In this classification he has followed
the arrangement in Lippe's Materia Medica. And by so doing he
has solved the problem that has so long confronted the student of
keynote collections; made a compilation that can be easily and
intelligently used.
Another innovation in this facile volume is that it can be used
as were Hering's Materia Materia cards Each keynote occupies
a paragraph, and near the inner margin of the page a line runs
vertically separating the name of the remedy from its keynote.
A metal book-mark accompanies the book just large enough to
cover the names of the remedies on a page. So the student can
test his memory and strengthen it by guessing.
452 Some Single Remedy Cures.
It is an ideal book to one who wishes to study materia medica
as it should be studied, and while some keynotes are omitted that
might very well have been included, it is as the author writes in
his preface: " No doubt I have left out some that are as valuable
as these that are in ; but let each add to them as ' seemeth to him
good,' and thus become a contributor."
Certainly it is a book that will be valuable to every one who
believes in the law of similia as did Hering, and Raue, and
Guernsey, and Lippe, and Farrington, and Jahr, and Bcenning-
hausen, and Dunham, and a host of the pioneers of our .school.
SOME SINGLE REMEDY CURES.
By Dr. A. W. K. Choudhury.
i. Sanguinaria Canadensis in Rheumatism.
Case No. 50 of my Case Book XIII.
Patient, named Sadan Sirdar, a Mahoinmedan male adult,
came to dispensary the 10th March, 1901, for treatment of rheu-
matism of the right shoulder, from which he had been suffering
since three days back.
Onlv right shoulder affected; aching, inability to raise up the
hand for contraction and pain; bowels open daily three or four
times; urine not colored; sleeplessness for aching of the shoulder
for three nights past; appetite good; tongue clean; taste in mouth
occasionally sour. Getting fever every morning since five or six
days, with no chill, consisting of heat only, with sweat of head
and face latter part of night.
Was given Sanguinaria 200, one dose. Was ordered to take
ata-chapati and milk by day, and khoi and milk at night. Not to
bathe.
The next day reported no aching the previous night and had
good sound sleep; could better raise up the hand. Fever at about
6:30 a. m., but less severe; daily one sufficient stool since his first
day of attendance. Urine not colored. Taste in mouth some-
times sourish, else insipid.
Repeated one dose {Sang. 200) as above.
1 3-3- 1 90 1. Can sleep at night, pain and aching very slight as
above; sleep good; one or two normal (formed and easy) stools
daily; urine not colored; appetite good. No more morning
fever; getting, since day before yesterday, evening fever with
Some Single Remedy dives. 453
slight chill with no thirst, chill continuing till about 10 p. m.; no
separate heat, followed by sweat of head, face and neck (anterior
and posterior).
Given placebo.
1 4-3- 1 90 1. Aggravation of aching last night, and he could
not enjoy sound sleep; last evening no feverishness; daily one
formed stool; appetite good; urine not colored.
I repeated one dose more of the medicine.
1 7-3- 1 90 1. No more fever, good sleep at night; aching almost
gone; can raise up the hand almost right up to the head; one
formed and sufficient stool daily; urine not colored; appetite good;
dimness of vision (slight).
One dose repeated with direction to use it if the illness increase,
not to use if it decrease gradually.
Remark. He appeared no more, but reported his recovery
(26-3-1 901). One week and one day he attended the dispensary,
and he was given four doses on four different days. This sort of
pain of the right shoulder making the patient unable to raise up
the hand right above the head has a very good and reliable medi-
cine in Sang. c. I can mention how another case of the above
sort (pain of the right shoulder) of about three months' duration,
entered in my Case Book No. IV, and dated the 4th January,
1896. The patient is a Mahommedan gentleman of about 51.
The disease in this case is a complicated one, the complications
being morning diarrhoea and slight occasional cough with thick
mucous or whitish expectoration. Here in this case I gave
Sang. c. 3X. He — the latter patient — received one dose daily on
the 4th, 5th, 10th, nth, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 19th inst.
On the 21st inst his report is as follows: Evening fevers without
chill, but followed with slight sweat; no sweat; tertian type.
Here I would rather interrupt you for a few minutes to con-
sider on the fever produced. In the second case the fever ap-
peared after ten doses of the medicine. A fever was found in my
first case, and it was after the second dose. Now let us compare
the fevers of the two cases as above:
Heat. Sweat. Thirst.
(i .. Q
o " o
To note here that my first patient (case No. 50 of my case book
XIII) when he first attended dispensery had morning fever since
five or six days back, the character of which fever you have
Type.
Time.
Chill.
ist Case.
Quotidian.
Evening.
Slight chill,
2d Case.
Tertian.
No chill.
454 Some Single Remedy Cures.
already noticed above. After the first dose of the medicine given
to my first patient there was no remarkable change in his fever
save lessening in its severity. x\fter the second dose it became an
evening fever.
Now in turning over the pages of Bcenninghausen's Homoeo-
pathic Therapia of Intermittent and Other Fevers, I am glad to
find under Sang. c. an evening chill, and moreover there are heat
and sweat. No thirst in Bcenninghausen and no thirst in my
two cases. I am sorry to write that Dr. H. C. Allen has left off
Sang. c. from his Therapeutics of Intermittent Fevers.
Although Sang. c. is a good remedy to the rheumatic painful
contraction of the right shoulder joint, it seems to me that the
medicine will show its better results in the treatment of the dis-
ease when higher dilutions are used.
Lycopodium in a Case of Intermittent Fever.
Case No. 20 of my case book XIII.
Patient, a Mahommedan boy of about 14 years, came to my dis-
pensary first on the 6th February, 1901, for the treatment of
intermittent fever. His case runs as follows (suffering four days):
Ty pe . — Quotidian .
Time. — 4 p. m. , continues till 8 p. m.
Prodrome. — Stretching.
Chill. — Slight; thirst, but little, and that only yesterday, tight-
ness of head.
Head. — From 7 p. m. to 8 p. M.; no thirst.
Sweat. — Slight, on forehead; no thirst.
Apyrexia. — Complete.
Bowels open daily once, stool soft, insufficient, with no bad
smell; urine red with slight burning during urinating; taste in
mouth sour; bad smell of mouth; tongue clean.
Treatme?it. — Lycopodimn 30, one dose.
7-2-1901. Almost no fever yesterday; two stools yesterday,
but stools scanty; bad smell of mouth less; sour taste in mouth is
no more.
Repeat one dose.
8-2- 1 90 1. Fever yesterday at about evening, still less and
continuing till 8 p. m.; one rather hard stool yesterday; urine
colored, with slightly burning sensation in the urethra; bad smell
of mouth increased; sour taste in mouth as before; appetite good;
Some Single Remedy Cures. 455
sleep good; tongue clean; slight thirst last evening during chill,
and drunk water once.
9-2-1901. Almost no fever yesterday; one scanty stool yester-
day; urine colored as before; bad smell of mouth increased as
yesterday; sour taste in mouth less; appetite good; sleep good;
no thirst yesterday.
10-2-1901. Xo fever yesterday; going on well; no stool; urine
less red than before; appetite good; sleep good; bad smell of
mouth much less; no more sour taste in mouth; burning during
micturition.
Remark. — Recovered. No more attended dispensary. Why
Lycopodium was given in this case? First, that the fever was
from 4 to 8 p. m., and secondly, the sour taste in mouth. In
this case the second dose, as it seems to me, was superfluous; it
aggravated the symptoms, as Lye. 30, second dose, created once
in me, when used for an attack of intermittent fever, a train of
new symptoms. I might have met the desired effect by the first
dose if I had patience not to repeat the medicine. See how
prompt cures follow the homoeopathic treatment of intermittent
fevers. Compare here given cases. If Homoeopathy has any-
thing to boast of it is here in the treatment of intermittent fevers.
4. Cimex in a Case of Intermittent Fever.
Case No. 132 of my case book XIII.
Patient, an old Mahommedan, of about 75 years, came to my
office, 14-5-1901, with the following history and symptoms: 111
since day before yesterday; type quotidian; time, 3 p. m. yester-
day evening, day before yesterday; prodromal thirst; chill severe;
no thirst, or avoids drinking for fear of headache and gagging in
the oesophagus, headache; heat severe, no thirst; sweat slight, no
thirst; apyrexia, complete thirst.
An opium eater; bowels open day before yesterday; no stool
yesterday; one stool to-day (first portion formed, latter portion
soft); urine not so colored, with slight burning in passing;
coughs with morning and evening aggravation, and aggravation
on lying down; tongue coated white; drowsiness and sleepiness;
pain under percussion on right hypochondrium.
He was given Cimex 30, one dose in apyrexia, as usual with
me. The next paroxysm — the paroxysm of the day he took the
dose — was comparatively less severe. He was given no more
medicine. On the 15th inst. had almost no fever. Going on
well.
456 O right of Homceopathic Pharmacy.
Now why Cimex was given in this case? It was the aggrava-
tion of headache and gagging in the oesophagus by drinking in
the chill of the fever, and thirst in apyrexia, and in the prodrome
that indicated the medicine.
I do not know why Homoeopathy should not occupy the first
and the highest seat in the treatment of intermittent fever.
Calcutta, India.
THE ORIGIN OF HOMCEOPATHIC PHARMACY.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the opening number of
Zeitschriftf. Horn. Pharmacie , Leipzig, Sept , 1901.
The directions for the preparations of the homoeopathic funda-
mental medicines, which then serve for the further preparation of
the medicines properly used in Homoeopathy, and which are called
potencies, are not very old yet. They were formulated and
demonstrated as Homoeopathy was in the beginning of the last
century. The first sketch that we have of these rules is of the
year 1805, and is laid down in the work of Hahnemann, "Frag-
menta de viribus Medicamenboram positivis sive in sa?w corpore
observatis" Here the fundamental principle of Hahnemann's
method of preparing medicines as distinguished from the allopathic
mode of preparation wThich was then dominant, and is still prevail-
ing, is plainly laid down. This method of course demands that
the medicines should be in a state in wmich they can be preserved
for an indefinite period, and of uniform quality and active force;
but besides this it absolutely requires that the medicaments be
entirely simple and uncompounded.
In this Hahnemann returned to nature, as he established the
theorem that medicines are most curative in the form in which
they are presented to us by nature; so that in order to secure
medicines of permanently equal action all that is necessary is to
preserve the medicaments in their original form by proper con-
servative means. Their chemical constitution is in no wise to be
changed, nor should any other medicines be mixed with them, as
an adjuvans and dirigens% as was customary in his day.
Then, as now, various means were used for preserving medicines.
The most common method consisted in drying the vegetable or
animal products as quickly as practicable in the open air, as no
changes can go on in dry preparations. But the changes which
Origin of Homoeopathic Pharmacy. 457
take place before these drugs are dried or while they are being
dried, and which are produced in part by internal causes, as the
oxidation taking place in almost all plants, while others are pro-
duced by external influences, such as the effects of light and of
fermentation, these changes can never be avoided; such drugs,
therefore, present only a more or less useful substitute for the
fresh plant, which has not been preserved quite unchanged.
Another method consists in pressing out the juices of the fresh
plants, with the addition of water; this mode has been much used
and is still prevalent. But such juices can be kept only a short
time, as the presence of large quantities of water causes manifold
changes, especially those caused by inferior organisms, such as
bacteria and fungi. Then the attempt would be made to remove
the superfluous water by evaporating the juice to the consistence
of honey or till it yielded a dry residue. But since the danger of
changing and decomposing the juice by this method is even
greater than in drying the whole plant, owing to the high tem-
perature required for the evaporation, the process has lately been
shortened and conducted at lower temperatures by the use of
expensive vacuum — evaporators; but even thus the desired result
is not attained. In order to secure an extract yielding a clear
solution after the evaporation, and then also to remove from the
preparations the substances containing albumen and pectine, since
these favor the formation of bacilli and fungi, before the evapora-
tion, the fresh juices of plants were first treated to the boiling
point on an open fire and then filtered, because by raising the
juice to the boiling point most of these nitrogenous .substances are
made insoluble and precipitated.
Other preparations, especially largely used in former days, were
confections, but these have come into disuse lately because they
spoil easily.
The defects in all these forms of preparations Hahnemann has
characterized excellently in his Organon:
1 ' Even the most curative plants lose their medicinal virtues in
part or entirely through such modes of treatment. By completely
drying them all roots belonging to the genus of iris, of the horse-
radish, of arum and of the peonies lose almost all their medicinal
virtue. The juices of even the ?nost poisonous plants are often trans-
formed by the heat applied in making extracts to a pitch-like in-
differe7it substance. Even by standing for a time, the juice of the
most poisonous plants loses its virtues. Even in a mild tempera-
458 Origin of Homoeopathic Pharmacy.
ture it soon passes into vinous fermentation Hosing thus much
of its medicinal strength); this is succeeded by acetic and putres-
cent fermentation, destroying all the medicinal virtues proper to
the juice. The powder which then settles down is quite innocu-
ous like any other starch. Even the sweating of a mass of green
plants lying on a large pile will destroy the greater part of their
medicinal strength."
As examples of these declarations of Hahnemann, we may cite
Amorphophallus and Rhus which are among our most poisonous
plants. While the fresh juice of the various species of Amorpho-
phallus is universally designated one of the most violent poisons,
scarcely surpassed by any other vegetable poison, so that it is also
used by the tribes of farther India to mix with the Ipo poison for
arrows, these plants, by drying, lose all their poisonous qualities,
so that the tuberous roots containing starch after being dried are
used for food.
Rhus toxicode?idron and Rhus veiienata where they grow wild,
even by their evaporation, cause inflammation and swelling of the
skin with persons who are so incautious as to recline near them;
while we sometimes search in vain for any efficient chemical con-
stituent in the drug, the fol. Rhus tox.
This also gives a natural explanation to the fact that medicines
which in former centuries had been used by physicians with great
effect in the freshly crushed condition, and wThich had therefore
been held in high esteem, entirely refused to act and lost their
reputation when they came to be used as drugs or as desiccated
extracts. We need only cite as examples the root of Bryonia,
which when fresh is a strong laxative and emetic remedy, but
when dried has no effect at all; so also the pasque flower (meadow
anemone), Pulsatilla, in its fresh state is a strong poison, and the
desiccated extract was a few decennia back still considered offi-
cinal, but now it has come into disuse, because the active part,
the anemone-camphor almost entirely evaporates when it is heated,
so that the preparation obtained has no effect.
// was left to Hahneman to introduce a form of medicine which
enables us to save and preserve the juice of fresh pla?its in its original
form. He made the water contained in the juice harmless, and
removed the albuminous substances and the pectine which is of no
medicinal effect, not by boiling and evaporating, but by mingling
the juice as soon as it is pressed out with an equal weight of
alcohol. Thus he produced liquids which he called ''essences,"
Origin of Homoeopathic Pharmacy. 459
which, since they contained about 45 per cent, of alcohol, could
not breed any fungi, while the substances containing albumen and
pectine, since they are not soluble in liquids containing so much
alcohol, fall down as a sediment and can be removed by filtration.
In the essences thus prepared the active substances of the plant are
still present in their original form and in the molecular compounds
and combinations that are found in nature, since alcohol cannot pro-
duce any mutation, and no other chemical agents are applied. It is
therefore manifest that preparations thus produced will retain
an equable permanent, efficiency, different from the drugs and
evaporated extracts mentioned before.
How important this discovery justly appeared to Hahnemann
may best be seen from a passage in his Organon in which he most
decidedly claims for himself the priority of this discovery. We
quote:
" Buchholz (Tasche?ibuch f Scheidekunst tend Apoth., 18 15,
Weimar, Div. I-IV) assures his readers this excellent mode of
preparing medicines we owe to our campaign in Russia, whence
he says it came to Germany (in 1812). He conceals the fact that
this discovery and the directions (which he quotes in my own
words from the first edition of the Organon der rat. Heilkunde
§ 230) belong to me, and that I communicated them to the world
in this book two years before the Russian campaign (the Orga-
non appeared in 18 10). He here follows the noble custom of
Germans, of being unjust to the merits of their countrymen. He
would rather invent the origin from the deserts of Asia than give
to a German the honor belonging to him. What times and
morals !"
It is notable and characteristic as proving the excellence and
usefulness of this mode of preparing medicines that of late years
also the allopathic side, e. g., Apothecary Golatz, has taken up
homoeopathic essences according to Hahnemann. He only went
a step further and by dialysis removed every trace of resinous
and mucous substances. But the two methods agree in preserv-
ing the fresh juice of the plants without the use of chemicals or
other chemical agents. There is no doubt that through the
efforts of Golatz and the physicians who use his dialytic essences
many indigenous plants are being restored to honor which in
spite of their considerable toxic and medicinal qualities have
almost fallen into oblivion owing to the inefficiency of their prep-
arations caused by irrational modes of production.
460 The Action of Medicines.
Every conscientious homoeopathic physician ought, therefore, to
be on his guard, so that he may be sure that the efficient and rich
tinctures prepared according to Hahnemann's directions may be
preserved and continued, and that he may not have foisted on
him tinctures prepared by methods not homoeopathic and there-
fore uncertain in their effects.
THE ACTION OF MEDICINES.
By Dr. J. Sieffert.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder from the Revue Homoso-
pathique Fra?icaise, July, 1901.
An open letter to Sir Lander Brunton, Dr. Med. of Sciences and Law at
Bdinburg, LL. D. of the University of Aberdeen, member of the Royal
Society of London, physician to the Hospital of St. Bartholomew at
London.
Most Illustrious Sir:
Being insufficiently familiar with the English language, I have
read your remarkable work on liThe Action of Medicines" in the
French translation, which has been published by the Messrs. E.
Bouque and J. F. Heymans, professors at the University of Ghent.
I have drawn therefrom precious teachings, of which I have
hastened to profit, but I have also found (on pp. 31 and 211 of
the translation) some remarks about Homoeopathy which do not
seem to me to be justified, so long as you are striving to be im-
partial. And I respectfully request your permission to submit
to you in my mother-tongue some reflections on this subject.
"This doctrine," you may say with respect to Homoeopathy,
"was formulated by Hahnemann, and may be summed up in
homoeopathic language in the motto: ' Similia similibtis curant?tr.}
. . . But in fact this method is eventually the same as Contraria
contrariis curantur, feeble doses of medicine producing an effect
opposite to that produced by strong doses or by the disease."
Then you cite an example drawn from the effects of Atropine,
and you continue: " The chief reproach to be made to Homoeop-
athy is that it presents as a universal law a fact falsely interpreted
and which is far from being applicable to all cases."
In support of this latter statement \ ou adduce the multiplicity of
symptoms, occasionally contradictory, which Dudgeon has indi-
cated in his Cydopccdia for the pathogenesis of Aconite. Outside
' The Action of Medicines. 461
of the fact that no man, however powerfully organized his brain
may be, can pretend to condense by himself and in a single book
the whole of a school of thought, and that I need not on that
account defend Dudgeon as to any errors which might have
escaped his notice, I must, nevertheless, for the present, cause you
to observe that these contradictions are more apparent than real.
We shall see this in the sequel, thanks to the arguments which
you yourself furnish us. Let us at the same time recall what
Trousseau and Pidoux, two teachers of allopathy, have stated in
the introduction (page LXV) of the Treatise on Therapeutics:
"The homoeopathic tenets have created a Materia Medica Pura,
from which have proceeded all manner of very precious knowl-
edges concerning the special properties of medicines and concern-
ing a multitude of particulars as to their action, of which in
France we are too much in ignorance. This ignorance is the
cause why we know only the grossest of the general properties of
the therapeutic agents, and that in the presence of such a variety
of shades of indications we too often lack the modifiers appro-
priate to these various shades. ' '
I have here temporarily gone outside of your text, but I now
return to it.
"It is a curious fact," you continue," "that Homoeopathy is
founded on exact facts of observation, but these have been inter-
preted in an erroneous manner." You then cite the experience
of Hahnemann with Cinchona bark, and you seem to admit that if
the founder of our school, in the course of these experiments, was
seized with an attack of fever, it must have been only the attack
of an old malaria which thus recurred.
The reason thus adduced is more specious than to the point.
For Hahnemann, you will readily grant me, was not a newcomer
among his contemporaries, and was bound to repeat his experi-
ments more than once before he would derive thence a general
conclusion. And, besides, the action of the Sulphate of quinine,
now so universally known, absolves me in this respect from the
necessity of any further discussion, at least from supposing that
Hahnemann alone was insensible to the curative effects of this
drug.
Further on you speak of his experiments on Mercury, and you
say: " But he forgot this other fact, that Mercury is changed by a
prolonged trituration and is transformed first into a suboxide of
mercury, and later on into an oxide." But what difference does
462 The Action of Medicines.
it make that the Mercury has acted as a suboxide of mercury or
as an oxide? What matters it whether this transformation be
effected through a prolonged trituration, or under the influence of
contact with the humors of the bodily economy ? Has its action
on that account been any the less homoeopathic, i. e., in obedience
to the law of similitude according to which " the most sure and
the most prompt means of healing consists, in employing a medi-
cine capable of causing a healthy man a totality of abnormal
symptoms similar as a whole to those that have been established
with the sick person treated?"
Besides, the number of medicines the homoeopathic action of
which has been proved and recognized is, if not illimitable, at
least much more considerable than you believe. I shall not give
you a complete enumeration of them, and shall limit myself to
some examples borrowed from allopathic authorities the credibility
of which you would not wish to impugne.
Cantharides in nephritis (Prof. Laucereaux).
Cya?iide of mercury in diphtheria (Frof. Dujardin-Beaumetz).
Horse chest?iuts in haemorrhoids (Academie de Medecine de
Paris).
Sulphate of quinine in the vertigo of Meniere (Prof. Charcot).
Corrosive sublimate in dysentery (Prof. Lepine).
Arsenic and Cacodyates in cutaneous affections (Prof. A.
Gautier).
In order that there may be nothing equivocal about this state-
ment, I will state it more boldly: These medicines which we have
enumerated had been employed by the homoeopaths according to
their law of similitude for quite a long time; Ca?itharides because
it produces nephritis and also cures it; Cyanide of mercury because
it produces false membranes, and also cures them; Horse chestnut
because it produces hemorrhoidal symptoms, and also cures them;
Sulphate of quinine because it produces symptoms similar to the
vertigo of Meniere, and also cures them; Corrosive sublimate be-
cause it produces dysentery and also cures it; Arse?iic because it
produces cutaneous affections, and also cures them. All these
were thus used by homoeopaths long before the masters of the
official school discovered their curative virtues. But not one of the
authors mentioned above has believed it his duty to acknowledge
the priority of the homoeopaths. The grand principle established
by Hahnemann has not even been treated on a footing of equality
with the phenomena of hypnotism, which have also existed at all
The Action of Medicines. 463
times like the law of similitudes, but have at last wound up by
being taken under consideration, after Prof. Charcot was kind
enough to acknowledge the fact of their existence.
In addition to these remedies we have the different serums of
Pasteur and his co-laborers.
We homoeopaths have, therefore, a compass, the guidance of
which it would be wrong for us to abandon, having therein a
positive indication which it would be criminal in us to disdain.
And it becomes more and more an absolute error to teach that
medicines have the same effect on the healthy man and on the
sick man.
You believe, and correctly, that we are not able or have as yet
not been able to verify the homoeopathic law of cure for all reme-
dies; but the number of the medicines which act according to the
law of similitude is so great that we may well without temerity
conclude thence on a general law.
Now is it the same with the law of opposites? The opposite of
diarrhoea is doubtless constipation, and in diarrhoea, according to
the law of opposites, astringe?its are indicated. The celebrated
American homoeopathist, E. Hale, some thirty years ago, in his
work, " New Remedies," under the article Gallicum acidum, de-
scribes the action of astringents in the following manner:
" 1 st. All astringents produce, in the first place, a contraction
of the muscular fibres in any part of the body, and at the same
time a diminution of the secretion of the glandular and mucous
tissues.
" 2d. All astringents produce, as a secondary effect, a diminu-
tion of the tonicity and a laxity of the muscular fibres, as also in
the glandular and mucous tissues, and in consequence an increase
in the secretion, even in colliquative evacuations."
But while diarrhoea and constipation are readily recognized as
opposites, what is the opposite of vomiting, of headache, of pneu-
monia, of pleurisy \ of fever, and of eruptiotisf No science has so
far formulated any opposites. And, then, what is the base on
which our allopathic colleagues found their therapeutic, for com-
bating diseases? Experience, you will answer. Experience,
that will surely count as something. But, unhappily, experience,
resting on tradition, has too often bent aside and deviated for us
to grant it absolute importance. It has essentially varied with
the times, to prove which I need only to cite the widely different
treatments applied successively in two very common diseases,
pneumonia and typhoid fever.
464 The Action of Medicines.
In view of this groping in the dark, homoeopaths, without oppos-
ing any true progress, but immutably faithful to their principle
have, without ceasing, conformed to their law of similitude, and
with the statistics in our hands it will be difficult to impinge
their success. Where, then, does the truth rest?
Here, I know, you will lie in wait for me. "The truth,'' you
will answer, "is that weak doses of medicine produce an effect
opposite to that caused by strong doses or by the diseases. Ho-
moeopaths practicing allopathy in disguise satisfy themselves with
playing 011 words." We must then explain ourselves more fully:
From the first, homoeopaths, having established that medicines
have not the same effect on a health}- man as on a sick man, have
never denied the difference in the action of medicines, according
as the doses are strong or weak. And this may, perhaps, explain
the apparent contradictions existing in the pathogeneses of the
Cyclopcedia by Dudgeon. Nevertheless, unless much deceived, we
owe to homoeopaths themselves in their researches in pathogene-
sis the discovery, specification and application of the difference in
the action of doses. And thus also we demonstrate the usefulness
of infinitesimal doses, to which we shall return further on.
This is also shown by Hale's statement on astringents. So
also some twenty-years ago by a memorial read before the Inter-
national Homoeopathic Congress (August, 1878), in which Dr.
P. Jousset, in agreement with Hale, said:
' ' In order to conform with the law of similitude, we mtist employ
the dose which produces the primitive effect of the mediciyie, when the
morbid state is analogous with these primitive effects.
' ' On the contrary, when the morbid slate is analogous with the
secondary effects, we should prescribe the dose producing these second-
ary effects.
" Infinitesimal doses are the most suitable for producing the prim-
itive effects, and the low dilutions and even ponderable doses arc
necessary to produce rapidly the secondary effects. "
Since then Moiis. P. Jousset (Art Medical, Nov., 1895) nas
more exactly defined his thought in these three laws of pharma-
codynamics:
I. Law. A moderate dose of a medicine once administered to a
healthy man will produce successively two opposite effects. These
opposite effects may alternate several times during the duration of
the action of this remedy.
II. Law. The stronger the dose the less marked is the primitive
The Action of Medicines. 465
action. If this dose is excessive, the secondary actio?i alo?ie is de-
veloped.
III. Law. With very small doses the primitive effects dominate,
and the secondary effects are frequently lacking.
More recently Prof. Lepine, of Lyons, has also in part studied
this difference in the action of medicines Semaine Medicate, Nov.
27, 1889';, but you will agree with me that the labors of the allo-
pathic school are much later than the homoeopathic discoveries,
especially if you will allow me to remind you that it is almost
forty-five years since Dr. Fabre, later on professor in the medical
college of Marseilles, in a paper presented to the Acadhnie des
Sciences, demonstrated that ether and chloroform despite of their
similar effects might, nevertheless, become antagonistic, if the
experimenter will take care to oppose the exciting period of the
one to the aruzsthetic period of the other.
In the meanwhile, because one remedy may produce two alter-
nating opposite effects, you conclude that every remedy is at the
same time allopathic and homceopathic, and that the law of simili-
tude is without any value.
Mons. P. Jousset in the place before mentioned continues : If
Aconite in its primitive action produces an excess of heat, and in
its secondary action a lowering of the temperature, we cannot as-
sert that Aconite cures fever through its primitive hyperthermic
action and in virtue of the law of similitude, since this remedy in
its secondary action lowers the temperature ; and nothing proves
that it is not this secondary which cures the fever by the law of
opposites. So, again, if Strychnine is convulsive in its first action
and paralyzing in its secondary action, who can state whether
Strychnine cures convulsions by its primitive action or by its sec-
ondary action, according to the law of similitude or according to
to the law of contrariety.*
11 But let us remark, that always with physicians employing in-
finitesimal doses it must be the law of similitude which is the rule
of indication. The third law of pharmacodynamics, which we
have cited above, say, in effect, that when the medicine is given
*To prevent confusion, it may be well here to call attention tc the fact,
that, contrary to homoeopathic practice, you denominate " primitive effects''
those which are caused by strong doses, and inversely "secondary effects "
those caused by small doses. This is nothing but a question of words, which
it is only necessary to call attention to once, so as to avoid mistakes which
might give rise to misunderstandings.
466 The Action of Medicines,
in a very small dose, and thus in infinitesimal doses, then the
primitive effect alone is produced. Thus the effect which Hahne-
mann calls primitive is precisely that which we oppose to an
analogous symptom offered by the disease. For example : Nux
vomica contains in its pathogenesis neuralgias with twitches.
This is one of the primitive effects of the remedy, and by virtue of
the law of similitudes Nux vom. in infinitesimal dose will be the
remedy for this kind of neuralgia. Thus there is no doubt as to
the application of the law of similitude when infinitesimal doses
are in question.
" But the question is more complex, and the clinic shows that
there are remedies which are homoeopathic in all doses. Thus the
primitive effects of Aconite indicate that it is a remedy against all
feverish motions ; and this remedy is successful in fever, whether
the remedy be given in the sixth dilution or in doses of twenty to
thirty drops of the mother-tincture. Bryonia and Ipecacuanha
possess primitive effects corresponding to symptoms of broncho-
pneumonia and of pneumonia. A great number of homoeopathic
physicians treat these diseases with success, using the sixth and
the twelfth dilutions ; but we know that Prof. Lancereaux treats
parenchymatous«nephritis with drops of the mother-tincture."
Based on these considerations, I venture to hope, Very Illustri-
ous Sir, that you will accord the law of similitude the right to
exist. And if it is repugnant to you to admit that diseases are
cured by similar-, I have the honor of proposing to you the fol-
lowing compromise, established on the fact that medicines pos-
sessing two actions opposed to each other may in consequence cure
a disease either by similar action or by a contrary one. We must,
however, remind you that since this latter action cannot be found
out directly, we are forced to deduct it from the fact of the exist-
ence of the similar symptoms which are easily observable. As
the late Dr. Ozanam felicitously remarked: "We must do like
the embroiderers of the Gobelins tapestries, who embroider on the
reverse side of their master-pieces that which is admired on the
right side."
Here then is the key to the enigma which keeps the two rival
schools in check. We can restate it in the following words :
" Similitude alone can give us knowledge as to the remedies that
are able to cure through the deduction of opposites.
" But diseases are probably cured by the contrary action of
medicines : Co?it?-a?'ia similibus indicantur"
The Action of Medicines. 467
Can you derive a more striking confirmation of the law of
similars ?
There is, then, reason for not further pushing this debate. And
yet — the matter lies near my heart, I confess — if I was not afraid
of too much taxing your patience I would yet mention an opinion,
not very friendly, which you set forth with respect to our tenets
(on page 211 of the translation).
" Another kind of treatment, which for the most part may be
considered as suggestive is Homoeopathy, a system which may be
excellent, especially for imaginary disease. In fact, Homoeopathy
is in the majority of cases a treatment by faith . . . Certain ho-
moeopathic remedies, such as Carbo vegetabilis, which is merely
vegetable charcoal, are so much diluted in sugar of milk that the
pills in reality do not contain any more charcoal and cannot act
any more otherwise than as intermediates of the imagination."
You are severe, O Illustrious Teacher! and nature is more
kindly to us than yourself. Why should remedies thus sub-
divided not be able to act any more ? Air and steam manifest
themselves all the more powerful as they are more subdivided,
and are they anything else than matter infinitesimally subdivided?
It is the same with light and electricity, other infinitesimal trans-
formations of matter. And what is true of air, steam, light, and
electricity should be impossible with matter in the form of medi-
cine.
From the theoretical point of view I allow myself the liberty of
recommending to you in this question the experiments of a cele-
brated allopath, Prof. Ostwald, of Leipzig, according to which the
power of decrystallization has been demonstrated up to crystals of
the ninth dilution (Zeitschr. f. phyo. Chemie, Vol. 32, F. 3).
In practice examples abound. Every day we cure adenitis with
the twentieth dilution of Silicea. My excellent colleague, Dr.
Cartier, formerly a physician at the hospitals in Paris, told me
enthusiastically only yesterday of his success in curing a violent
cough with the 100th potency of Aviarie {Tuberculinum of birds).
If, as you suppose, these dilutions contain no trace of medicine,
the}' ought to be altogether harmless. What, then, could you lose
in such a case by trying these medicines so as to control the exact-
ness of my statements ?
Listen to two more examples (I do not desire to adduce too
many) drawn from my Formulaire de Therapeuiique positi:
'I. Lycopodium, according to the observations of my friend,
468 The Action of Mediates.
Dr. A. Claude, is well adapted to the cure of certain intermittent
fevers not uncommon in the Parisian climate, less characterized
by thermometric oscillations of great extent, than by undefined
distressing conditions (anxieties, somnolence, weariness, etc.), the
symptoms being most pronounced at the close of the afternoon
and the beginning of the evening. The temperature remains
stationary or is only one-half or two-thirds of a degree higher.
The spleen may present a slight increase of size. These symp-
toms are also observed at the end of the feverish stages, and at
the end of fevers connected with exanthems where Lycopodium
constitutes then an excellent remedy during convalescence. If
the improvement which Dr. Claude notes at the end of the third
or fourth day while using the thirtieth dilution does not progress,
he passes successively to the sixtieth and the one hundred and
twentieth dilutions, which he has caused to be prepared specially
for such circumstances, and finally to the two hundredth dilution.
This remedy has cured, among others, a pleurisy covering pos-
teriorly almost the whole of the right lung.
II. With respect to headache from overwork, Dr. A. Claude
has spread himself on the systematic use of Pidsatilla. Having
observed that this symptom, characterized by an obtuse pain,
localized especially in the frontal region, and by an almost com-
plete disability of the brain, both with respect to the comprehen-
sion of thought and to recollection, was relieved after the use of
Pidsatilla, even after resisting the prescribed complete physical
and intellectual rest, the use of certain preparations of iron and
of Arsenicum , which seemed called for by the chlorotic puffing, as
also the other hygienic measures, such as hydrotherapy, change
of air, etc. Our colleague wished to see whether these facts could
not be explained by the elective action of Pidsatilla on the venous
system. At the request of my colleague, Dr. Parenteau, a dis-
tinguished oculist, made numerous ophthalmoscopic examinations
of the patients sent to him by Dr. Claude. Through these re-
searches it may be considered as established that headache from
overwork always coincides with an augmentation in the size of the
venous vessels in the depth of the eye, and with a diminution in
the diameter of the arterial vessels. The thinness of these latter
vessels is sometimes pushed so far that there is a good deal of
trouble in finding them, while the venous network is alone visi-
ble. Though the relative volume of these two circulations we
may almost determine quantitatively the intensity of the lesion
The Action of Medicines. 469
and of the disorders which it calls forth. This examination,
therefore, furnishes at once valuable diagnostic and prognostic in-
formation. Dr. Claude divided his patients into several series:
(a) Medicines other than Pulsatilla, such as Hama?nelis and
Arnica; (b) Pulsatilla in strong doses; and (c) Pulsatilla in
attenuated doses. Hamamelis and Cactus were not successful
except in a single case each; strong doses of Pulsatilla (10 to 30
drops of the mother tincture in twenty-four hours) always led to
a redoubling of the pains. The attenuated doses alone in a con-
stant manner always effected a favorable result. The third dilu-
tion (three doses a day) diminished the pains in three to four
days, then it seemed to lose its efficacy. If at the end of a week
he passed to strong doses, the symptoms resumed their former
intensity. But the sixth and the twelfth dilution did not fail to
bring relief, and the ophthalmoscope demonstrated anatomically
the improvement in the functional lesion described by the patients.
In a last series Dr. Claude placed the patients whom he from the
first treated by feeble doses. There was with them no effect, and
it was only by the prior use of the low dilutions and successively
rising thence to the higher attenuations that the curative action
revealed itself, increased and was finally firmly established.
From that time on our colleague always used the same formula in
these cases, which may be called systematic; five doses of Pulsa-
tilla 3 (two drops in a spoonful of pure water) one hour before
the chief meal and on retiring. After a pause of two days Pulsa-
tilla 6 in the same way. Another pause and then successively
Pulsatilla 12, 18, 24, and 30. We may conclude by saying that
the patient is rarely obliged to pass beyond the eighteenth dilu-
tion.
To this Dr. Claude adds : " In Lycopodium, as in Pulsatilla, the
premature use of very high dilutions is ineffectual. These do not
seem to yield their effects before the bodily economy seems to be
saturated with the lower dilutions. In such cases the action is at
once as successively primitive and secondary, but always homoeo-
pathic.
But what rule should you then follow in the choice of the at-
tenuation ? You will ask me, Illustrious Teacher.
No absolute rule can be established, because as Dr. Leon Simon
says in his Memoir, which he read before the International Homoeo-
pathic Congress in London, in 1896, and which was entitled :
' ' An Attempt at a Ride for Posology. " "To solve the posological
470 The Action of Medicines.
problem, we must take count of three factors, the medicine, the
disease and the patient."
On the other hand, a great number of medicines are homoeo-
pathic in whatever dose they be given, and experience joined to
medical tact can here alone supply the insufficiency of the data,
while the law of similitudes is an indispensable auxiliary in show-
ing us that the medicine was well chosen ; it then needs to ascend
or to descend the posological ladder, according as the administra-
tion of the medicine was followed either by aggravation (most
frequently due to the medicine) , by no change at all, or by amelior-
ation. But I repeat again and insist, that there is no absolute
rule in this respect, and I cannot make a better ending than by
reproducing one of the conclusions from the Memoir of Dr. Leon
Simon :
For as much as to undertake the study of the pathogeneses of
each attenuation of every remedy would be a labor for which sev-
eral generations would not suffice,* therefore,
" We need to proceed to the choice of the dose as we do to that
of the medicine, i. e., we must take into consideration the totality
of the symptoms, and conform to the law of similars.
*For a great number of remedies, however, the proving of the action of
the attenuations is already made, as in Corrosive sublimate, as we may see
from an open letter addressed by the late Ozanam to Prof. Lepin, of Lyons
(Jan., 1890). "But you, in following out this view, altogether attribute to
Dr. Lemoine, Assistant Professor of the School for Military Health in Lyons,
the discovery of the favorable action of Corrosive sublimate in a dose of
3-0V0 in dysentery, explaining its action as elective or antiseptic. Now, with-
out desiring to decry in any way the talents and the merits of Dr. Lemoine,
who may have labored a good deal in determining this indication, I can af-
firm that he discovered what had already been known for nearly half a cen-
tury ; this remedy had been indicated in our pathogeneses and our medical
manuals (Hahnemann, Materia Medica, Vol. Ill, pp. 27 and 90, Paris, 1834.
Hartmann, Homoeopathic Therapeutics, Vol. I, p. 209, Paris 1837. Hering
Homoeopathic Domestic Physician, 1855, 3d ed., p. 350). But there it is set
forth with the more complete details characterizing its indications.
"Thus we have on the side of the remedy and on that of the disease : 1st.
The elective action on the larger intestine and the rectum. 2d. Both sides in-
tense phlegmasy of the mucous membrane, with colic, tenesmus, diarrhoeay
s/i>ue, erosions, ulcerations and hemorrhages.
" Nothing can be imagined more similar, more homceopathic.
"But since doses of 3-^ of a gramme frequently cause medicinal aggrava-
tion, we administer this remedy in the second or third solution, i. c, the
Tfftanri tthtW» nroforo of a gramme. The primitive violent toxic effect is
thus suppressed; the consecutive or therapeutic effect alone remains and
heals.
Effect of Vaccination. 471
" We shall therefore, after having chosen a homoeopathic medi-
cine, give such a dose of it as would produce in a healthy person
a totality of symptoms similar to that which we observe in the
sick person. This we express in the formula : " The therapeutic
dose ought to be similar to the pathogenetic dose."
"The therapeutic dose ought, however, always to be smaller
than the pathogenetic dose."
And now, O Illustrious Sir, if you have deigned to read through
to the end, it only remains with me to thank 3'ou, and ask your
pardon for having intruded on your leisure, and to respectfully
hope that I may see you become an ardent homoeopath, which
you failed to become on the entrance on your glorious career.
Paris, July 1901 .
EFFECT OF VACCINATION.
Editor of the Homceopathic Recorder.
Dear Sir. — Please publish enclosed clipping relative to vaccina-
tion. I believe there is a better way to prevent smallpox epi-
demics, viz. : Cleanliness and absolute isolation. To modern
hygiene, quarantine, cleanliness should be given the credit for
less of smallpox than formerly rather than to vaccination.
Yours truly,
B. W. Severance, M. D.
Gouver?ieur, N. V., Sept. 2, 1901.
Ogdensburg, Sept. 2. — Harriet Marjorie McGibbs, only
daughter of James A. and Harriet McGibbs, of Washington
street, passed away Thursday evening after an illness of about
six months, aged 10 years. Little Marjorie was vaccinated at
the time the order was issued by the board of education compell-
ing all children in the city school to be vaccinated. It worked
very hard and the child soon began to fail, and has been confined
to her bed most of the time. Death is attributed to the effects of
vaccination. The funeral was held Saturday afternoon. — Water-
town, N. Y., Daily Standard.
"We may draw thence a new and important conclusion, that the scale of
doses can quite faithfully reproduce the series of the periods, and we may
thus accurately determine the effects we wish to obtain, the strong doses rep-
resenting the primitive or toxic stage or period, while the infinitesimal doses
correspond to the prodromic, fugitive and transitory period where the remedy
hardly begins to act; or most frequently to the secondary period, where the
remedy is almost eliminated.
"But while the homceopathic physician like a skillful painter can lean
upon even the lightest shades to characterize the similitudes, he still ob-
serves that the Sublimate is suitable only to dysenteries in which the
haemorrhages are formed of red blood. When various haemorrhages set in, it
is no more the Sublimate which covers the total indication, but another
remedy which allopathy has also discovered lately, but thirty years after us,
i. e.y Hamamelis Virgin-ica." (Grover Coe, Concentrated Organic Medi-
cine, New York, 1858-1865, seventh ed. )
472 Book Notices.
BOOK NOTICES.
A Treatise on the Acute, Infectious Exanthemata. Includ-
ing Variola, Rubeola, Scarlatina, Rubella, Varicella, and Vac-
cinia, with especial reference to Diagnosis and Treatment. By
William Thomas Corlett, M. D., L. R. C. P. Lond., Pro-
fessor of Dermatology and Syphilology in Western Reserve
University; Physician for Diseases of the Skin to Lakeside
Hospital; Consulting Dermatologist to Charity Hospital, St.
Alexis Hospital, and the City Hospital, Cleveland; Member of
the American Dermatological Association and the Dermatologi-
cal Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Illustrated by 12
colored plates, 28 half-tone plates from life, and 2 engravings.
Pages viii-392. Size, 6% by 9^ inches. Sold only by sub-
scription. Price, extra cloth, $4.00 net, delivered. Philadel-
phia: F. A. Davis Company, publishers, 1914-16 Cherry
Street.
The title of this book gives its scope. The illustrations, full-
page insets, are unusually good. It will be noticed that "vac-
cinia " is classed among the diseases, and the illustrations of the
effects of this disease are as repulsive as those of smallpox.
Among the diseases caused by vaccination the author describes
erythema, eczema, generalized vaccinia (practically smallpox),
papillary hypertrophy, vaccinia haemorrhagica, erysipelas, ulcera-
tion, glandular abscess, septic infection, gangrene, tetanus, im-
petigo, psoriasis, tuberculosis (doubtful), syphilis, and leprosy
(remote probability). Still Dr. Corlett does not condemn the
practice, but urges the greatest care in vaccinating — which is
seldom used.
Cholera : Its Symptomatology, Etiology, Morbid Anatomy, Diag-
nosis, Prognosis, Prevention, and Homoeopathic Treatment.
By Sarat Chandra Ghose, M. D. 66 pages. Cloth. Calcutta:
Lahiri & Co. 1901.
This is a book from the home of that dreaded scourge, Asiatic
cholera, and by a man who has ample opportunities for studying
the disease clinically. It was first published serially in the Ho-
moeopathic World, and then revised and brought out in book form
Book Notices. 473
in Calcutta. Excess, in Dr. Ghose's opinion, is largely responsi-
ble for this disease. " I treated nearly 160 cholera patients last
year. The majority of these patients were in the habit of drink-
ing ardent spirits to excess." The book is a valuable and
thoroughly homoeopathic treatise on the subject.
Libertinism and Marriage. By Dr. Louis Jullien (Paris).
Surgeon of Saint- Lazare Prison, Laureate of the Institute of
the Academy of Medicine, and the Faculty of Medicine of
Paris. Translated by R. B. Douglass. Size of page, 5^ by
7^ inches. Pages v-169. Extra Cloth, gico net, delivered.
Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, publishers, 1914-16
Cherry Street.
This book opens with an introduction on professional discretion
and is followed by seven chapters on the effects of genorrhcea or
blenorrhcea in men and women. A strong book.
Electricity in Medicine and Surgery, Including the X Ray.
By William Harvey King, M. D. In two parts. With a Sec-
tion on Electro-Physiology, by W. Y. Cowl, M. D., Berlin,
Germany, and a Section on the Bottini Operation, by Albert
Freudenberg, M. D. Berlin, Germany. 296 pages. Cloth,
$3.50. New York: Boericke & Runyon Co. 1901.
"To make this treatise a thorough and reliable work on the
use of electricity in medicine and surgery has been the one con-
stant aim of the author from the beginning to the finish," writes
the author in his preface, and he seems to have succeeded very
well as have co-workers from Europe. Printing good and also
the binding.
The Medical Directory of New York, New Jersey, and
Connecticut. Published by the New York State Medical
Association. 55 W. 65th St., New York. Vol. III. 1901.
Price, $2.50.
First there is given a street list of physicians in the cities, then
an alphabetical list, and a street directory followed by medical
laws, hospitals, societies, etc., the whole forming a very complete
direcctory of the three states.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE 6c TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM
Address communications, books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
EDITORIAL BREVITIES.
Correction. — In the notices of the new work on Practice in
the last number of the Recorder the author's name was wrongly
given; in place of "J" it should have been F. Mortimer Law-
rence. The new work will be about completed when this number
of the Recorder is out, and promises to be one of the successes
of the season.
A New B. & T. Pharmacy. — Messrs. Boericke & Tafel have
opened a pharmacy in New York City, at 634 Columbus Ave., near
91st St., making their third pharmacy in that city and the tenth
under their management in this country. Needless to add that the
new establishment is a thoroughly equipped modern homoeopathic
pharmacy.
The Connecticut Society. — The Connecticut Homoeopathic
Medical Society will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary of its organiza-
tion at Hartford on Monday and Tuesday, November 18th and
19, 1 901. It is the intention to make this meeting the most im-
portant of any in the history of the society. Prominent physi-
cians from New York, Philadelphia, and Boston have agreed to
take part in the program.
The Southern. — The Southern Homoeopathic Medical Asso-
ciation will meet at Atlanta, Ga., on October 22-24. The hostess
is Dr. Susan M. Hicks, who will entertain informally at "The
Grand." On the evening of the 23d there will be a reception at
the Woman's Club Rooms. Dr. A. L. Monroe has charge of
Materia Medica; Dr. G. S. Coon, Surgery; Dr. W. L. McCreary,
Obstetrics; Dr. Helen Ellis, Paedology; Dr. Lizzie Gray Guthrie,
Editorial. 475
Gynaecology ; Dr. A. X. Ballard, Sanitary Science; Dr. Jesse
Mann, Ophthalmology; and Dr. H. R. Stout, of Clinical Medi-
cines. The meeting promises to be very successful.
Treat the Patient. — Be as careful in diagnosis as possible
in order to ascertain " the removable causes of disease," but after
the diagnosis is made be guided in prescribing by the patient's
symptoms. Prescribe for the patient and not for the diagnosed
name of the disease; that is the road to success in the cure of dis-
ease.
" 'The Totality of the Symptoms.' — This is an old shib-
boleth of our school. Rightly viewed, it is better than a shibbo-
leth, it is a motto for a battle flag. What is the totality of the
symptoms ? Is it anything less than the grasp of all recognizable
subjective and objective signs of disease, and of the causes, natural
and artificial, which have combined to produce a given morbid
condition? If we rest content in a less comprehensive, a less
strenous interpretation of the phrase, we do so without the war-
rant of Hahnemann." — Dr. J. P. Sutherla?idy in Hahn. Monthly.
Cures of Tuberculosis. — Dr. Mau, whose cases we have been
publishing, translated from the German homoeopathic journals, is
backed up in his estimate of Tuberculinum by a Dr. Goetsch, of
Slawentzits, Silesia. Dr. Goetsch claims to have cured sixty-five
cases of tuberculosis with the remedy, beginning his treatment
with doses of 1-10,000 g.m. In every case the tubercle bacilli
were found. He gave the remedy by injection, but the potentized
drug would probably have acted far better.
Passiflora in Asthma. — American Medicine finds Passiflora
in a good remedy for spasmodic asthma in allaying asthmatic
paroxysms and "preventing their full development." It ought
to have stated that it was Dr. E. M. Hale, in his book, New Reme-
dies, who rescued the drug from oblivion.
Filters. — Better no filters than unclean filters. Ashland,
Wisconsin, had a filter in which the sand was not changed for
three years; result, typhoid epidemic.
Homoeopathy in Europe. — In a letter by Dr. H. Packard to
the New England Medical Gazette on the state of Homoeopathy in
Europe, the conclusion is drawn that in France and Italy there is
no progress, but in the other nations Homoeopathy is more than
holding its own. In Germany there are about 400 professed ho-
moeopaths and an equal number who practice it quietly yet main-
476 Editorial.
tain their affiliation with the old school. This also is largely the
case in Austria.
Are Tumors Curable? — The Medical Record, anent Burnett's
Curability of Tumours by Medicine, says: " We may take it for an
assured fact that no internal medication has any effect upon an
already existing carcinoma in the human body, and as this volume
maintains the contrary nothing further need be said." The
question is, Is it an " assured fact?"
Air Promoters. — Dr. H. H. Wilson is reported to have said
at a meeting in Milwaukee {Med. Record): " The claims made by
promoters of certain health resorts that the richness of the air in
ozone, the resinous gases from the pines, the peculiar purity of
the atmosphere in a particular locality, or the elevation or aridity
of the air act as specifics in certain diseases are not generally based
on scientific investigation, but h ve their origin in the fertile brain
of the advertisement writer."
Imported Malaria. — Dr. W. S. Abbott, in the Annual Report
of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, finds that malaria is
imported into that State by Italian laborers who were engaged in
digging roads, sewers, etc. In other days it was believed that
any extensive digging of the earth would cause ' ' chills and
fever."
Tuberculinum. — E. A. Heath, M. D., in a letter to Homoeo-
pathic World, Sept., says that the Tuberculinum used by Dr. Mau,
of Keil, is the same as the Bacillinum used by Burnett.
Odors in Disease. — The striking paper under this heading
that appeared in the June Recorder, from the pen of Dr. W. B.
Clarke, was translated in Russian and published in the Jo ?im a I of
Homoeopathic Medicine, of Kharkoff. A number of the leading
dailies of the United States gave it prominence.
Tinctures from Dried Plants. — Read the paper in this Re-
corder, translated from No. 1 , Volume 1 , of the new German Jour-
nal, Zeitschrift fner Horn. Pharmacie, and you will, if you value
your success in practice, have nothing to do with fluid extracts in
homoeopathic prescribing, or with the cheap "tinctures" made
from those extracts with which the market is flooded. It is an in-
teresting and a timely paper.
Request. — Readers of the Recorder are requested to send in
news items, such as removals of physicians, meetings of societies,
Editorial. 477
new locations, marriages, deaths, and any other items of general
interest to the profession.
Small-Pox. — The epidemic that has been creeping over the
United States since the Spanish war has finally reached Philadel-
phia. The cases are mild and the fear of the disease is more to be
dreaded than the actual disease itself. A patient allowed to re-
main in his own home has little to fear, but if forced from his bed
and carted through the streets to the unknown " pest-house " the
consequences are to be dreaded. The disease seems to be quite
indifferent to vaccination.
Refused to Go. — Mr. Lewis Hitt, of Frankford, Philadelphia,
contracted small-pox in September. The usual notification was
given and the Board of Health's wagon appeared to take him
to the pest-house. Under the advice of his physician, Dr. R.
Bruce Burns, he refused to go, and the door was locked in the face
of those who sought to remove him. The police were appealed to
but refused to take any hand in the matter. Dr. Burns said he
was receiving the best of care, far better than he would in the pest-
house; that every precaution had been taken in the way of isola-
tion, and would advise " the most violent means to keep the pa-
tient at home." The patient and the plucky doctor have, we be-
lieve, the majority of the people with them, for no one wants
to go to the pest-house.
Beauties of Inoculation. — Under the heading, "Deadly
Vaccine Points," the hidianapolis Sentinel publishes the follow-
ing: Chicago, Sept. 22d, dairymen near Barrington, thirty miles
northwest of Chicago, are in a panic over the fatal results of using
poisonous vaccine points for the prevention of anthrax. Cows
are dying by the hundred, and fear is expressed that the poison
in the vaccine is contagious and that the disease is likely to
spread over the entire northern end of the State if some radical
action shall not be quickly taken. As a precaution, all the car-
casses are gathered into heaps and burned, but the farmers say
that the sick cattle have run through bushes and rubbed against
fences, thus spreading the infection in every field of the dairy
district. The state officials have begun action to prevent further
danger from a spreading of the disease.
A New Homoeopathic Journal. — The Medical Magazi?ie,
volume I, number 1, Sept. 15, 1901, is the name of the last one.
47 8 Editorial.
It is edited by Drs. Harvey B. Dale and Filip A. Forsbeck.
Published at 121 Wisconsin St., Milwaukee, Wis. We hope that
the newcomer may live long and prosper.
After-Effects of Vaccination. — A well known Philadel-
phia homoeopathic physician, Dr. Allen, of Frankford, who has
been in practice over thirty years told us that in his experience
every child that died of diphtheria had been vaccinated, while
he could not recall a case of an un vaccinated child dying of that
disease, and when attacked they always had it in the mildest
form. He had made a special study of this while charity phy-
sician in one of the districts of Philadelphia some years ago.
Has any one else observed this?
A vena in Colds. — Dr. N. R. Simmons finds that Avena
sativa in twenty to thirty drop doses is the best thing he ever
found to break up a common ' cold."
X°R. — Several physicians have asked what the " X"R "
means, to be found on pages 25 and 26 of the Boger translation
of the Bcenninghausen Repertory of the antipsorics published last
year. These symbols occur only on the two pages mentioned
above, which are devoted to " Intercurrent Remedies in Chronic
Diseases." Here is an instance from p. 26. " Hernia, descended,
generally Nux v. X°R. ' ' The matter was referred to Dr Boger,
the translator, who replies: " By referring to the ' Introduction '
to the 'Antipsoric Repertory' by Hahnemann, and to pp. 132,
150, 232 and 721 of the Chronic Diseases, you will see that X
generally, and Xo occasionally, were used to designate what we
now call the 30th centesimal potency. On page 32 of Chronic
Diseases we find the original source of Bcenninghausen' s ' Inter-
current Remedies;' it will be observed that no potencies are men-
tioned on that page, so that the ' XoR ' is the author's own sug-
gestion except in the case of Ipecac. Just what he meant by the
' R ' must remain a matter of speculation as in no place in the
original is an explanation vouchsafed." Does any reader know ?
D. T. Cases. — A French writer, Salvant, in These dc Paris,
claims that a cold bath will stop a case of delirium tremens
quicker than anything else. "The temperature being reduced,
the motor and sensory hyperexcitability usually disappear."
Where there is heart disease, however, the treatment is contrain-
dicated.
Editorial. 479
Cedron in Yellow Fever. — Dr. Hodgson in report to Sur-
geon General says that he used the tincture of Cedron in yellow
fever with the most satisfactory results. He used the tincture
hypodermically 20 minims three times a day. Not a case so
treated died. He says that the Cedron is also " a specific " for
bites of insects, and is used for that purpose in Central and
South America. Cedron is known in Homoeopathy as a remedy
for malaria of a certain character, and Dr. Hodson says " yellow
fever and malaria are so similar that it is not reasonable to sup-
pose that the remedies should be radically different."
The Next Morning. — Medical Talk gets off the following
and calls it a " Bombay Oyster." It is used after one has had too
good a time the night before: " To such people a Bombay oyster
is not only food but medicine. The Bombay oyster is prepared
as follows: Take a fresh egg and break it whole into a glass; add
a teaspoonful of vinegar, salt and pepper; stir thoroughly; drink.
This is almost sure to set well on the stomach and furnish as
much nourishment as the ordinary breakfast. Xot only this but
it puts the stomach into good condition for dinner and generally
clears away what little headache may be lingering near."
TEXAS HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
Gainesville, Texas, Sept. 10, 1901.
To the Homoeopathic Profession of Texas and the Southwest:
The eighteenth session of the Texas Homoeopathic Medical
Association is hereby called to meet in the parlors of the Oriental
Hotel, at Dallas, Texas, at 10 A. m., October 8 and 9, 1901. All
members are urged to attend. All homoeopathic physicians in
Texas and neighboring States are cordially invited to be present
and to become members of the Association. For particulars
address the secretary.
I. C. West, M. D.,
President.
Hunter B. Stiles, M. D.,
Secretary.
PERSONALS.
The latest is not necessarily the best.
Mr. Dooley doesn't like Buffalo for making light of Niagara.
Dr. R. E. Dudgeon's address now is 22 Carlton Hill, St. John's Wood,
London, N. W., England.
The New York City Board of Health have made malaria a notifiable dis.
ease and must be reported " as is done in the case of other infectious dis-
eases."
No, Mary, the fact of your having checks remaining in your check-book
does not prevent your account from being overdrawn.
Why not change it to, Whom the bacteria love die young ?
Figures often lie, especially about the shoulders of men when dressed.
The singular of bees is bee, of cheese — is the same.
Dr. S. C. Whitecomb has removed from Topeka, Kansas, to Farmington,
Illinois.
Clara Morris tells of a stage horse so mild and benevolent looking that it
was believed he always asked a blessing over his oats
FOR SALE. ^ $3>000 practice in a live county seat in central
Kansas. Only homoeopath in the city. Reason for
selling, wish to engage in a specialty in larger city. A good physician can
make money by taking the practice. For terms, etc., address Kansas, care
of Homoeopathic Recorder, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
Wine-colored spots on the skin indicate Sepia.
Getting on the trail of a ball-room lady is about as bad as having an
Indian get on yours.
Rats spread plague, cats diphtheria, cows tuberculosis, mosquitoes malaria
and yellow fever, and flies everything. Dogs must tremble at their turn.
The Premier Congres Egyptien de Medecine will be held at Caire, Egypt,
io-i4th of December, 1902.
Yes, Mary, a love letter is a writ of attachment.
" It is all right to be pretty, but don't find it out." — Geo. Ade.
Dr. R. F. Tousley has removed from Dallas to Lawton, Okla.
The mortality of 25,355 cases of small- pox to May, 1901, was 1.5 per cent.
Surely a mild disease to make a fuss over.
The Columbia's the gem of the ocean.
When a widower is looking out for a wife he is not looking out for num-
ber one.
The most of us would rather profit by the mistakes of others rather than
our own.
Whether it be " firmness " or " stubbornness " depends on whether it be
attributed to ourself or the other chap.
THE
Homoeopathic Recorder.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster, Pa., November, 1901. No. 11
HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE . OF
HOMCEOPATHY.
By Bushrod W. James, A. M., M. D., LL. D., of Phila-
delphia, Penna.
The Eighteenth Annual Session.
(Year 1865.)
The eighteenth annual session of the iimerican Institute of
Homoeopathy was held in Melodeon Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio,
being called to order by the President, Dr. E. C. Witherell, on
June 7, 1865.
The first order of business, by motion of Dr. D. S. Smith, was
the election of the following officers :
President — S. S. Guy, M. D.,of Brooklyn ; Vice-President, I.
T. Talbot, M. D., of Boston ; General Secretary, G. D. Beebe,
M. D., of Chicago ; Provisional Secretary, Wm. Tod Helmuth,
M. D., of St. Louis ; Treasurer, D. S. Smith, M. D., of Chicago.
The Treasurer, Dr. C. H. Skiff, having forwarded his Report,
it was at once read and referred to the Auditing Committee,
Drs. E. B. Thomas, Wm. Tod Helmuth, C. A. Dake, G. W.
Bigler and Benjamin Ehrman, who, upon examination, found it
to be correct, when the report was accepted.
Dr. Wm. Tod Helmuth reported for himself and Dr. T. P.
Wilson as delegates from the Western Institute of Homoeopathy,
stating that the work of that Society was going on successfully,
and that the members of this Institute were invited to be present
at its next meeting, when matters of great interest would be sub-
mitted for discussion. The report was accepted and the delegates
invited to take seats with the Institute members.
Dr. I. T. Talbot asked to be permitted to submit a plan for the
reorganization of the Institute. He thought it was necessary for
482 American Institute of HoinoeopatJiy.
the sake of adding to the usefulness of the Society as a national
body. He proposed : 1st, A Bureau on Materia Medica, 2d,
A Bureau on Clinical Medicine and Zymoses, 3d, A Bureau on
Organization and Statistics, to keep a record of the names of all
Homceopathists in the United States, together with lists of Medical
Colleges, Societies, Hospitals, etc. He also thought that the In-
stitute should have meetings less often, and that the material in-
cluded in the reports of the bureaus and other scientific papers
could be published as the transactions.
Dr. Talbot spoke of the failure of the attempt to have Homoeop-
athy introduced into the army and navy, and attributed it to the
lack of organized effort on the part of the profession. He moved
that a committee of five be appointed to consider the subject and
report at an early meeting of the session in progress.
Dr. D. S. Smith seconded the motion, but hoped nothing would
be done to interfere with the present organization. He thought
that all the recommendations made by Dr. Talbot could be intro-
duced into the Institute as it stood.
Dr. Talbot's motion was carried, and the President appointed
the following five pl^sicians as the proposed committee: Drs. I.
T. Talbot, J. P. Dake, K. C. Witherell, Win. Tod Helmuth, and
D. S. Smith.
The Board of Censors, through its Chairman, Dr. G. W.
Swazey, reported the names of forty-four candidates for election
to membership, as follows:
D. H. Beckwith, M. D., T. P. Wilson, M. D., Cleveland, O. ;
E. C. Beckwith, M. D., Zanesville, O. ; P. Oscar Benson, M. D.,
Springfield, Mass.; Dr. James Birnsteel, Newton Corners, Mass.;
G. S. Blackburn, M. D., Chas. C. Bronson, M. D., T. C. Brad-
ford, M. D., Chas. Cropper, M. D., A. H. Ehrmann, M. D.,
James M. Fuller, M. D., D. W. Hartshorn, M. D., J. Harpell,
M. D., James G. Hunt, M. D., Robert R. Lynde, M. D., Wm.
Owens, M. D., and Dr. W. Sturm, of Cincinnati, O. ; Wm. J.
Blakeley, M. D., Benzinger, Pa.; S. N. Caldwell, M. D., Piqua,
O.; J. Q. A. Coffren, M. D., Springdale, Ky. ; J. P. H. Frost,
M. D., Bangor, Me.; W. B. Garside, M. D., Harrison, O.;
Henry Gunkle, M. D., J. Russ Haynes, M. D., Newport, Ky.;
O. D. Hamilton, M. D., York, N. Y. ; J. R. Harvey, M. D.,
Thos. Hewitt, M. D., M. W. Wallace, M. D., Allegheny City,
Pa.; D. Cowley, M. D., W. R. Childs, M. D., and J. L. Rankin,
M. D., Pittsburg, Pa.; F. E. Boericke, M. D., Pusey Wilson,
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 483
M. D., Philadelphia, Pa.; H. N. Holland, M. D., Jeffersonville,
Ind. ; Wm. H. Hunt, M. D., Covington, Ky.; Francis Krebbs,
M. D., Boston, Mass.; R. B. Rush, M. D., Salem, O.; A.
Shepard, M. D., Springdale, O.; Charles Suinner, M. D., T. C.
White, M. D., Rochester, N. Y. ; W. Webster, M. D., Dayton,
O.; Chas. Woodhouse, M. D., Plainfield, 111.; E. M. Hale, M.
D., and E. Kneipcke, M. D., Chicago, 111.
The credentials of delegates were next offered :
Drs. B. De Gersdorf. J. H. Pulte and E. Kneipcke, from the
German National Homoeopathic Medical Association ; Drs. O. D.
Hamilton and H. Robinson, from the New York Homoeopathic
Medical Society ; Drs. E. M. Hale and E. Kneipcke, from the
Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Society, and Dr. Pusey Wilson,
from the Homoeopathic Medical College, of Pennsylvania.
The following resolution was offered by Dr. G. W. Swazey :
"Resolved, That the American Institute invite all bodies of
Homoeopathic Physicians to send delegates to its meetings," and
after being considered by the Committee on Reorganization, was
adopted.
It was announced by the Committee of Arrangements, that
after the annual address in the evening by Dr. W. W. Rodman
there would be a collation served to the members and their ladies
at the St. Nicholas Hotel.
At half-past two the afternoon meeting was called to order by
the new President, Dr. S. S. Guy.
On motion of Dr. Swazey, the correction of the roll of members
was submitted to a committee consisting of Drs. I. T. Talbot,
W. W. Rodman, J. Blakeley, J. P. Dake, Charles Cropper, D. S.
Smith, F. Woodruff and Wm. T. Helmuth, who were expected to
report a corrected list on the following day.
Dr. J. P. Dake moved that at the same time obituary notices
should be reported of the members deceased during the }7ear.
Carried.
Dr. C. Neidhard presented a report on " Whooping Cough,"
which was read by General Secretary Dr. G. D. Beebe, and re-
ferred to the Publishing Committee.
Additional time was granted R. Ludlam, M. D., Committee on
"Tabes Mesenterica," and W. E. Payne, M. D., Committee on
" Diabetes," to prepare their reports.
The report of Dr. W. E. Payne, giving a fragmentary proving
of " Saponaria Officinalis," and recommending the proving of
484 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
attenuated or poteutized drugs, was referred to the committee for
publication.
The paper was discussed by Drs. T. P. Wilson, W. T. Helmuth,
J. P. Dake, E. M. Hale, and I. T. Talbot. The report of the
Homoeopathic Medical Society of Connecticut was read by
Provisional Secretary Dr. W. T. Helmuth, and also referred for
publication.
The report of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of Massa-
chusetts was presented by Dr. I. T. Talbot, who also presented
a paper on " Homoeopathic Pharmacy," by Dr. H. L. Chase.
The paper was discussed by Drs. G. D. Beebe, R. Ludlam, D.
S. Smith, S. S. Guy, E. M. Hale, I. T. Talbot, C. H. Beckwith,
G. W. Swazey, and F. Woodruff, all of whom had some complaint
to make upon the imperfect and careless manner in which drugs
were handled. Dr. Ludlam was loud in his defense of the Chicago
Pharmacy, but he was compelled to yield to the many proofs
offered by the speakers of its deficiency in the proper preparation
and distribution of our drugs. The papers were referred to the
Publishing Committee.
Dr. J. P. Dake offered the following resolution, which was
adopted:
"Resolved, That while the special object of our Society per-
tains to the health of mankind, we cannot quietly meet again for
the transaction of our usual business without expressing our satis-
faction and thankfulness to Almighy God for the suppression of
the late dire Rebellion and the restoration of peace, with the pros-
pect of a yet nobler and greater prosperity than before enjoyed."
Dr. J. P. Dake read a report from Dr. T S. Verdi, of Washing-
ton, D. C, in which was described an apparatus used by him in
treating Secretary Seward, who had a fractured jaw.
The General Secretary read a report from the Homoeopathic
Infirmary of Philadelphia, submitted by Dr. Bushrod W. James,
surgeon in charge.
Both reports were referred to the Publishing Committee.
Mr. Bartlett, agent for the Wine Growers' Association, sent an
invitation to the members of the Institute to visit the sales rooms
of the Association and test the samples of native wines which
were prepared for medicinal use, which invitation was accepted.
At 8 o'clock p. M. the members assembled to hear the annual
address.
Dr. W. W. Rodman began his address by making a brief
American Institute of Homoeopathy . 485
reference to the sad occurrences that had suspended the meetings
of the Institute for five years, and expressed thankfulness to
God for the restoration of peace and the pleasure of again meet-
ing as brothers our colleagues from all parts of the United States.
He said peace had its struggles as well as war; that there was still
a conflict waging in which the Institute must take its part
valiantly, for in the period of transition medicine was bound to
have its place. The revolution was even then going on, and he
asked his brother physicians to stand fast during the contest and
estimate the true place of the profession during the epoch. " Our
position with the duties which spring from it " was the theme of
his address. He divided the subject into three headings, Pa-
thology, Materia Medica, and Therapeutics, and said that in
each, homoeopaths claimed to be right, but were said to be wrong.
Pathology, which ascertains the seat of disease, its nature, its
laws, and the changes it produces, should be known and be
made available in practice. This the homoeopath learns and fol-
lows it by finding not only these traits, but the organ affected and
the tissues of that organ involved in the trouble. He not only
learns these, but observes every minute symptom, every slight
variation of the healthy structure. Nothing is too small for the
true homoeopath to note while diagnosing a case and prescribing
its consistent remedy. Therefore, a faithful practitioner of Hahne-
mann's doctrine must be versed in the pathology of diseases. He
will not place effects and call them causes; he will not treat partial
symptoms for the true disease. Dr. Rodman said it is true in
some minor topics that homoeopaths do not thoroughly agree, but
thought it was not necessary to quarrel about these matters until
it was fully proven that it was best for all men to find and con-
form to one settled opinion as if modelled from one common
pattern.
With regard to Materia Medica, Dr. Rodman considered this
one of the most assailable points in Homoeopath}7. To the new
school the phenomena elicited b37 experiments on healthy persons
is placed among the natural sciences, which honor God's creative
goodness and man's faithful industry; while to the old school they
seem irrelevant, absurd. The one searches for truth from every
available source, deeming nothing too small for consideration; the
other overlooks these items as unnecessary waste of time.
Dr. Rodman said that the study of Materia Medica had been
recommended and undertaken by the dominant school, but the
486 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
new was the one to take the drugs and test them thoroughly upon
healthy systems until their true worth was fully established.
Even old school professors acknowledged, after years of dispute,
that the homoeopathic method of proving was the only means of
ascertaining the pure pathogenetic effects of medicine. He spoke
of therapeutics and of the advance Homoeopathy had already
made against blood-letting, purging, and irritating applications.
He did not claim that Homoeopathy had reached perfection in thera-
peutics, but he knew that it had opened a field of investigation to the
old as well as the new school of practice. As yet, the speaker said,
we know little of the modus operandi of medicines, or why the differ-
ent remedies are rejected or assimilated by the various organs, but
we do know that the conditions do exist and that the art of medicine
assists nature to restore diseased tissue to normal health. By
noting the effect of drugs upon organs and tissues we obtain the
pathogenesis of the remedies, and we know upon what to depend
for the treatment of diseases, and are always afterwards sure of
the remedy required by the same set of symptoms. The aim of
Homoeopathy is to find the remedies which will aid nature in pro-
ducing curative reactions without diverting them into other
channels. Remedies that will act in perfect harmony with nature,
and in doses so small as to make no difference in its functions.
Some people regard this principle as altogether true, others refute
its power entirely but the object of the Institute must be to estab-
lish it as a fact and prove it by every means in faithful practice.
Dr. Rodman thought that future examination would prove that
there was a certain affinity between the two schools that would one
day draw them closer when Homoeopathy had still further proved
its truth. To sustain his argument he quoted from the writings
of old school physicians as they describe the properties of narcot-
ics and other medicines, while they state that the very remedy em-
ployed by Homoeopathy in the cure of disease is announced by the
other school as decidedly dangerous in such disease.
The principle of similars is the contention between the schools,
and it is this principle that we must establish irrefutably. Ho-
moeopaths may differ in dilutions, but the real truth sought is
what remedy is most efficacious, not what dilution we shall use.
Our opponents discuss the peculiar action of drugs as proven by
our doctrine, but when our proofs are promulgated they are re-
jected. Thus it is shown that there is yet a greater struggle for
Homoeopathy if it would take its place as a true science. Our
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 487
first struggle was for existence, then for equality, soon it will be
for supremacy. To obtain this there must be perfect union in the
profession, courtesy and forbearance to our enemies, modest in our
claims, and a knowledge that we may not claim infallibility in
opinions or faultless utterances in our speech. Dr. Rodman closed
by saying we have received much from the old school, and if they
do not willingly accept the improvements that we offer let us
patiently pursue our own course, and let our successes prove our
doctrine.
We should not antagonize our enemies, but maintain toward
them a courteous demeanor, and work faithfully in developing our
beloved Homoeopathy. We cannot all do everything, but each can
do his part, and in the end there will be a grand total of facts that
cannot be repudiated. We should be ready to accept truth from
whatever source it appears, for one truth can never injure another,
and, above all things, honorable, amicable conduct should mark
every one's demeanor to his fellow practitioners of either school,
never refusing tolerance to different opinions in or out of our own
ranks.
The Institute met at 9 o'clock on the morning of June 8 for its
second day's session, and was called to order by the President, Dr.
S. S. Guy.
The first business of the day was the reading of a Report from the
Northern Home for Friendless Children in Philadelphia, which had
been prepared by Dr. Bushrod W. James. He stated that he had
been connected with the Institution from 1859 until 1864, when
the Board of Managers saw proper to return to allopathic treatment.
Dr. James reported the prevalence of a very aggravated epidemic
of Egyptian Ophthalmia during his service in the Home. The
number afflicted with the disease was 561 of whom he succeeded
in curing 541, the other 20 being relieved; but predisposition to
scrofulous or other such maladies prevented perfect cure, though
not one case resulted in blindness.
During Dr. James's service at the Home there were 1,599 in-
mates, of whom 16 died. Under allopathic government there were
16 deaths out of a total of 794 inmates. The space of time oc-
cupied in the charge of the Institution by allopathic physicians was
4^ years, while Homoeopathy was administered during 7^ years.
Dr. James, therefore, treated an excess of 805 cases, losing by
death only the same number as the old school practice. A grand
showing in favor of Homoeopathy.
488 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
S. R. Beckwith, M. D., presented a paper on "Compound
Dislocations of Long Bones." Wm Tod Helinuth, M. D., read
a practical paper on ' ' Surgery, ' ' and exhibited specimens of fibroid
polypi of the uterus, and also plates of a congenital hypertrophy
of the tongue, which he had extirpated with the ecraseur.
K. M. Hale, M. D., presented a paper on " Medico-Botanical
Study." J. P. Dake, M. D., thought the government, in making
appropriations of laud, might present some land for the establish-
ment of an institution for the trial of remedies, but no action was
taken.
Dr. G. W. Swazey offered the following, which was adopted :
" Resolved, That the thanks of the Institute be presented to Mr.
Bartlett, agent of the Wine Growers' Association, for his courtesy
to its members."
Dr. B. C. Witherell offered this resolution :
"Resolved, That we, the members of the American Institute
here present, respectfully offer to Adolph Bauer, M. D., in his
present affliction, our cordial sympathy and our earnest wishes for
his speedy recovery and restoration to usefulness." ■ Adopted.
Dr. E. M. Hale offered a resolution relating to obtaining in-
formation from the Pharmacies in the several states concerning
the preparation of drugs, and the sources from which the vege-
tables and minerals were obtained. This resolution was discussed
by Drs. T. P. Wilson, J. H. Pulte, J. K. Clarke, S. S. Guy, G.
W. Swazey and C. H. Beckwith.
On motion of Dr. J. P. Dake, the subject was laid on the table.
The afternoon meeting was called to order by President S. S.
Guy, M. D., who called J. Beakley, M. D., to the chair.
Dr. I. T. Talbot presented a report, which was accepted for
consideration: That Article IV. of the Constitution be so amended
as to read, "At all meetings of the Institute members shall be
entitled to seats, but all the deliberations and transactions shall be
conducted by delegates appointed in accordance with its By-
Laws."
G. D. Beebe, M. D., opposed the amendment, and moved that
it be laid on the table. The President resumed the chair, but
refused Dr. Beebe' s appeal.
A motion to alter Article I. of the By-Laws was rejected, but
the following amendments were at once adopted:
Article II. The officers shall be elected at each session by
ballot, and shall remain in office until others are chosen.
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 489
Article III. The President shall preside at the meetings of
the Institute, preserve order therein, put all questions, announce
all decisions, and appoint the committees not otherwise ordered.
Article IV. The Vice-President shall assist the President,
and in his absence perform his duties.
Article V. The General Secretary shall keep a record, etc.
Article VI. The Provisional Secretary shall assist the General
Secretary, and in his absence perform his duties.
Article VII. The Treasurer shall collect all moneys belong-
ing to the Institute, make all necessary disbursements, and report
annually in writing.
Article VIII. At each session of the Institute there shall be
elected by ballot a board of five Censors, who shall receive and
examine credentials of candidates and report to the Institute for
election such as may be found properly qualified.
Article IX. to remain as Article VIII. printed.
Article X., Section I. There shall be a Bureau of Homoeo-
pathic Materia Medica, Pharmacy, and Provings, which shall
obtain facts relating to the Materia Medica and Pharmacy, and
Institutes, and collect and arrange provings of drugs.
Section 2. There shall be a Bureau of Clinical Medicine and
Zymoses, which shall collect facts relating to clinical medicine
generally, and especially to any endemic or epidemic diseases
which may exist in the country.
Section 3. There shall be a Bureau of Surgery, which shall
collect all improvements in surgery and surgical means, especially
in its connection with homoeopathic treatment.
Section 4. There shall be a Bureau of Homoeopathic Organiza-
tion, Registration, and Statistics, which shall keep a register of
all homoeopathic physicians, or those who claim to be such, in the
United States, distinguishing those who are members of the In-
stitute, and also members of State Societies; prepare a list of all
State and local societies, colleges, hospitals, dispensaries, and
journals with their organization, and collect any statistics regard-
ing homoeopathy, its status and progress.
Each of these bureaus shall consist of five members appointed
by the President, and if any member of either bureau shall resign
or decline to serve, the President shall fill the vacancy and notify
the General Secretary of the fact.
Each Bureau shall report its progress to the General Secretary
490 American Institute of Homoeopathy.
every six months, and make a full report to the Institute at its
annual sessions.
The amendments for Article XXI were laid on the table, and
other Articles remained as printed.
Dr. D. Cowley presented a report of the Homoeopathic Medical
Society of Allegheny county, Pa., which was referred to the Pub-
lishing Committee.
Dr. O. D. Hamilton offered the following:
"Resolved, That the practice of procuring virus, for vaccina-
tion, from the human body is reprehensible, and should be
utterly abandoned by the profession." He was named by the
President as a committee of one to consider and report on the
resolution at the next meeting.
The Committee on Re-organization reported favorably on the
resolution referred to it, namely:
"Resolved, That the American Institute invites all bodies of
homoeopathic physicians to send delegates to its meetings. ' '
It was, therefore, adopted.
After some consultation it was decided that the Institute should
hold its next session in Pittsburg, Pa., on the first Wednesday in
June, 1866.
On motion of Dr. J. Beakley, it was decided to publish five
thousand copies of Dr. Rodman's address for general circulation.
Dr. G. D. Beebe, General Secretary, read a memorial from
Carroll Dunham, M. D., which embodied a protest of the German
Homoeopathic press against a spurious edition of " Hahnemann's
Organon," which had been recently issued.
The Faculty of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsyl-
vania also presented a protest against its translation or publication.
Both protests were fully endorsed by the Institute, and the papers
were referred to the Publishing Committee.
Dr. G. W. Swazey moved to amend the resolution of 1857 by
inserting after the words ' ' advanced age ' ' the words ' ' or other
causes of honorable mention," and to strike out the word
" honorary." The amendment was adopted.
On motion of Dr. I. T. Talbot, Brigadier General Edward A.
Wild, of Massachusetts, who served with particular courage and
patriotism in the Civil War, was transferred to the honorary list
of members of the Institute.
President S. S. Guy, M. D., then announced the appointments
of the Bureaus:
American Institute of Homoeopathy. 491
Materia Medica and Pharmacy. — Constantine Hering, M. D.,
W. E. Payne, M. D., Walter Williamson, M. D., E. M. Hale, M.
D., and H. L. Chase, M. D.
Clinical Medicine and Zymoses — H. D. Paine, M. D., J. P.
Dake, M. D., R. Eudlam, M. D., E. C. Witherell, M. D., and
B. F. Finke, M. D.
Surgery— Win. Tod Helmuth, M. D., G. D. Beebe, M. D., J.
Beakley, M. D., S. R. Beckwith, M. D., and Pusey Wilson,
M. D.
Homoeopathic Organizations and Statistics. — I. T. Talbot, M.
D., H. M. Smith, M. D., H. M. Faine, M. D., G. E. Shipman,
M. D., and J. S. Douglas, M. D.
William Tod Helmuth, M. D., was appointed by the President
to act as orator for the next meeting, with Pusey Wilson, M. D. ,
as his alternate.
Dr. Guy also appointed M. Cote, M. D., J. C. Burgher, M. D.,
J. T. Cooper, M. D., D. Cowley, M. D., and H. H. Hoffman, M.
D. , as the Committee of Arrangements for the next meeting.
Dr. E. C. Witherell presented a paper from a committee of the
New York State Society on the "Uniformity of Drug Proving,"
which was referred to the Publishing Committee.
The following resolution, offered by Dr. G. W. Swazey, was
adopted:
That a vote of thanks be presented to the Committee of Ar-
rangements and the physicians of Cincinnati for the splendid
entertainment of the members.
The President expressed his thanks for the courteous way in
which the members had acted toward himself, and for the har-
monious manner in which the whole session had been conducted.
The Institute moved and carried a vote of thanks to Dr. S. S.
Guy for the manner in which he had presided over the sessions,
and one to Dr. G. D. Beebe for the services rendered by him as
General Secretary during the meeting.
The thanks of the Institute were also tendered to the Cincinnati
papers for publishing the proceedings of the meeting.
On motion the Institute adjourned until the next Annual
Session to be held in Pittsburg in 1866.
492 Treatment of Cancer With Homoeopathic Medicine.
THE TREATMENT OF CANCER WITH HOMCEO-
PATHIC MEDICINE.
By J. H. Peterman, M. D.
Mr. President and members of the Association, I very respect-
fully present to you the practical results of homoeopathic treat-
ment of ten cases of different varieties of cancer treated by me in
the last thirty years.
Case i . Mr. J. F. B. , of 28 years, came to me with epithelioma on
left side of face (nose). His father had died with the same disease
at Paris, France. He had come from England to New Orleans;
there the disease made its appearance. He returned to England,
was treated, returned free of it. Seven years after that it reap-
peared on the same spot, when he came under my care in Mar-
shall, Texas, from March till September, was cured by me, has
remained well now, over 28 years.
Remedies, Conium mac. 30, Carbo an. 30, Sil 30, Phos. No
external treatment was used.
Cask 2. Mrs. McK., of 25 years, came to Marshall, Texas, 10
years ago; had been under treatment for 4 years for diseased
womb, was not expected to live but a few weeks. I found her
cold, almost pulseless, not able to be up or turn in bed, breathing
with great difficulty. Began with Carbo veg. In 3 weeks she
could sit up some, took regular nourishment, bowels which had
been uncontrollable had ceased to give tronble. I found an en-
larged fibrous womb, excessive acrid discharge, menstruation very
irregular. Diagnosis scirrhus. She was treated for 2 years, when
she had gained 17 pounds; the former cachectic condition had
entirely disappeared; menstruation normal; was doing her house-
work and attended church and entertainments and trips in the
country. Six months after that she began to suffer severely with
her liver, a very painful enlargment; the former cachectic con-
dition reappeared. Diagnosis, scirrhus of liver; the same treat-
ment with Sep., Carbo an. and veg.% Phos. and Ars. 30; in one
year she was well of that; 3 months after a cancerous, brown
looking ulcer appeared on left elbow; discharge acrid and steadily
increasing. Ars. 30 and Cale?idula 3X, internally and externally,
0 1 part to 4 of distilled water, healed the sore in 3 months; since
that no more trouble; now about 8 years.
Treatment of Cancer With HomoeopatJiic Medicine. 493
Cask 3. Mrs. P., of Marshall, Texas, of 32 years, had been
married 6 years; under treatment most of the time; mother died
with scirrhus. When she came to me I diagnosed carcinoma;
womb hard as wood and puckered, external os ulcerated, retroflex-
ion, womb bound down by adhesions, fundus enlarged, rectum
involved, no stool except by enemata and mechanical aid, and then
with considerable mucus and blood. Three nodules in left breast
half inch in diameter, axillary glands enlarged and indurated. In
4 months the glandular trouble had disappeared, mostly under Hep.
s., constipation 3'ielded to the galvanic current, womb became soft
and more erect, menstruation is now normal. Six months after
this, about one year after beginning of treatment, the liver showed
the same condition as in the patient in Case 2, left upper lobe of
lung became dull and painful, patient began to cough, throat
showed signs of infiltration. All of this has now disappeared.
After 4 years she is doing her housework, and is a health)* looking
woman.
Remedies, Sepia. 30, Hep. Sid. 5X, Calc. 30, Phos. 30, Thuja
200 and 3X, externally application, 6 1 to 4 parts of distilled water.
Case 4. Mrs K. , sister of former, 34 years of age, had carcinoma
in left iliac region the shape and size of a pear; discharge acrid,
very painful, general health failing, being before a very healthy
woman; mother of 4 healthy children.
Remedies, Ars. 12X, Calc. ostr. 30, Phos. 6x, i2x, Sil. 30, Lye.
30.
Cask 5. Mrs. Joe W. came to me with a very troublesome
cough that yielded to Bry. and Ignatia. I was then entrusted
with further details of her condition. She had in 7 years under-
gone 3 operations, including curretting, narrowing of vagina, dila-
tion of os, treatment for retroflexion, wore a slim pessary for pro-
lapses, almost unbearable to her. I found womb anteverted, os
hard and uneven, and extremely painful, also vagina, irregular
stools and scanty menstruation. She said she knew she had
cancer. She had the cachectic appearance of cancer patients,
could not leave the house. I diagnosed carcinoma of os, began
treatment, and in one year she was a picture of health; fear she
will be too fleshy.
Remedies, Sep., Phos., Ars., Lye., Sil., Hydr., Natr. mar. and
Natr. sul. intercurrently; also, Calendula lotion per vaginam.
494 Treatment of Cancer With Homoeopathic Medicine.
Case 6. Mrs. S., of 45 years, had one epithelioma extirpated
on the left side of face; it reappeared in 2 years in the vagina,
cauterization and other means were employed; it disappeared, but
returned in 2 years in the same place. Came under my treat-
ment. I employed Causticum 30 for urinary difficulties, Calc.
ostr. 30, P/ws., Sil., Thuja 3X, and Calendula for external use.
She stayed well 6 years, when she died with typhoid fever.
Case 7. Mrs. B., mulatto, of 42 years, mother of 4 children,
had been under treatment of 3 physicians for 2 years; all diagnosed
cancer of the womb, but did not give her any relief nor hope.
Peroxide of hydrogen was used externally; had no effect; the dis-
charge became more and more acrid and of an unbearable odor.
I began with Calendula 0 for external use and Calendula 3X in-
ternally, which reduced the protruding fibrous mass where no
clitoris, womb, vagina, or vulva could be detected before to a
more normal condition. After that I began with Lapis alba 6x,
internally and externally, in water solution; the effect was wonder-
ful. In 4 months she was doing her housework, and told me
she would take in washing for others; would go everywhere, even
into the country over 17 miles, returning in 5 days. She wanted
to stop treatment then, and died one year after with an abdominal
disturbance under the care of another physician.
Case 8. Mrs. W. , Marshall, Tex., of 32 years, came to me
with a brownish looking ulcer on upper lip; very painful. Her
mother had been operated upon for epithelioma of the face. She
feared this was the same. I began treatment with well indicated
remedies, but in 6 weeks the face up to the eyes and down to the
clavicle, involving tongue, was a brownish looking, uneven,
swollen mass, threatening suppuration, horrible fcetor; she lived
on milk taken with a tube through the opening of a failing tooth.
I then began with Thuja 6, 20 drops 4 times a day , and Thuja <->,
1 to 4 parts of water, externally. Improvement began at once,
and in 4 months no more was left than a dent the size of a match
head on the lip. This was diagnosed by me and two able physi-
cians as the melanotic (black) variety. Three months after this
the same trouble broke out on right labia majora; received the
same treatment with Thuja, and no more has shown since, now
over 7 years.
Case 9. Miss F. , teacher, in Marshall, of 27 years, had for n
years a hard nodule under right nipple; when she came it had
Treatment of Cancer With Ho7nceopathic Medicine. 495
begun to enlarge, the axillary glands enlarged, indurated and
painful; the right arm so weak that she could not write on the
blackboard any more; general health failing. Began with Phos.,
Calc. ostr., then Carbo animalis; under the last remedy the whole
mammary gland dwindled away with the tumor; the gland re-
turned slowly to its former size, but the tumor has not. This was,
no doubt, scirrhus. Other physicians had advised removal.
Case 10. A case of lupus of nose came under my treatment. It
returned 4 times after that; showed up on pylorus, but has dis-
appeared and has not shown up for 2 years.
Remedies, Con., Carbo an., Rhus, Hep. s., Bell.; when at
pylorus Conium and Carbo an. Calendula was employed when
on nose externally.
General Remarks.
Cancer needs heroic doses and the patient can stand it. Besides
this the Article, Section 36, page 77, in the Organon does not
hold good in cancer treatment. A cancer patient will take most
any epidemic disease, and is very susceptible to telluric influences.
I had to treat grippe, catarrh, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, neuralgia,
colds, bronchial and rheumatic attacks, along with the chronic
condition, because I found that when I stopped the cancer remedy
my patient had become worse after the acute secondary disease.
Here is a chance to study the much-disputed alternation of reme-
dies. I also found that women who had a history of cancer in
the family and had married men who had had venereal disease
before developed cancer at once, and it progressed more rapidly
than in other cases where this condition was excluded.
Calendula as an intercurrent or alternated with the main
remedy has a remarkable power to produce local exudation, and
helps to make the acrid discharge become healthy and free. It
is a remedy never to be neglected! The remedies must be selected
on the totality of the symptoms, not as cancer remedies only.
All of these cases had able physicians to diagnose before they
came to me. I must denounce the assertion of so many of the
medical profession, that the best thing in cancer is early extirpa-
tion. Cancer is most always a constitutional disease, which is
clear by the fact that nearly every cancer returns after first treat-
ment by medicine as after operation, and what to do with it when
attacking an internal organ. The totality of the symptoms, the
cachexia, the history are the guiding features, not the germ. We
496 A Calendula Case.
must know what to do before the germ is there, just the same as
in phthisis. If cancers can be cured after their return after
operation they must always be amenable to treatment and cure,
that is common sense; and I will undertake any kind of cancer,
and in any stage, and have better results than the surgeon. If
too far advanced nothing can save the poor sufferer, but homoeo-
pathic treatment can give more relief than anything; and if any-
one has witnessed the suffering, the daily dying of a person when
the disease comes on again after operation, when a second
operation is most always out of the question, and then sees the
wonderful effects of our remedies making the patient easy and
paving the way to the grave, he must always be in favor of medi-
cal treatment all through the disease, and if we would only take
this view we would soon know more of the successful treatment
of cancer than we do now. "Noli me tangere," the ancients
said, and that is as true now as it was then as to cancer.
Ardmore, I. T.
A CALENDULA CASE.
By G. S. Austin, M. D.
I used a mixture of Succus calendula and Glycerine on a patient
who was knocked down by the end of a carriage shaft striking
him behind the ear, and then the foot of the horse struck him in
the face as he rolled over, the shoe being placed so that it cut all
around the eye but did not touch the eye ball, but the force of the
blow broke the nose. By the time the patient could be brought
to town the face was so badly swollen as to cause the wounds to
gape open in a fearful manner. I applied the Calendidated glyce-
rine, one part Glycerine to two parts Succus calendula, warmed by
the addition of a little hot water. The carriage went over the
man, taking off the skin of the left tibia for about twelve inches,
and bruising him in several place; but he was wonderfully pre-
served from injury in the abdomen. Wherever the skin was
broken the Calendulated glycerine was applied. The rapid and
complete recovery which the man made was a marvel to all who
were acquained with the case. There is no disfigurement of the
face. The hygroscopic nature of the Glycerine, together with the
antiseptic and healing properties of the Calendula^ made a perfect
dressing. It was wonderful bow quickly the swelling was reduced
Chemists and Physicians. 497
by the Glycerine, thus affording a free circulation of the blood
through the parts which aided the repair process. The surgeon
who performed the abdominal operation sent him here for recup-
eration, and put him in charge of a " regular" physician. That
physician could not be found when wanted, and so the patient had
advantage of good scientific treatment, which he evidently would
not have received if said physician could have been found, for
when the patient was well started on the right road to recover}^ he
arrived on the scene and ordered my treatment discontinued, and
substituted instead clothes wrung out of ice water. The pa-
tient dutifully tried to be obedient to the ''powers that be" but
very soon most vigorously protested against the further applica-
tion of cold and demanded the reinstatement of the former very
agreeable treatment.
The process of repair can only take place by the circulation of
the blood through the parts. The cold would drive all circula-
tion out and consequently no repair. When the blood returned
after the parts got warm again there would exist a paralyzed con-
dition of the nerves of the part and consequent hypersemia and
inflammation. How much the world is blest by Homoeopathy
they do not realize. How much we owe Samuel Hahnemann !
I find a great many uses for the above-mentioned mixture.
Using it now on a carbuncle. Been using it for some time in a
case of chronic inflammation of pelvic organs — used externally.
It is a great help to internal treatment by mouth.
Nantucket, Mass.
CHEMISTS AND PHYSICIANS.
My Dear Classmate : I trust you were not too greatty shocked
at the plain words in my last letter. To my mind it seems evi-
dent that unless the members of the medical profession assert the
right to run their own business the time is soon coming when
the doctor will be dominated by the pharmaceutical chemist no
less completely than the white slaves of the mills are dominated
to-day by those colossal homunculse — Carnegie, Morgan, Schwab
etal.
Now let us discuss the matter temperately, logically. Is there
any real reason for the advent of the pharmaceutical chemist ? Is
the theory of Hoffmann, of Westphalia, by them revived, the
498 Chemists and Physicians.
right one ? Is it only sepsis and anti-sepsis in the functions of the
body? Is the body only a laboratory, according to the chemical
system of Voit ? Are we but machines to be stoked, and greased,
and polished ? If yes, then Mr. Pharmaceutical Chemist may set
up his corporeal retort, known as the human body; he may give
his acids to neutralize his alkalies, his alkalies to circumvent his
acids, or, he may set up inside this long suffering organism
known as man his proteids and solvents, his digestives, and his
antipyretics, and start a molecular warfare of chemicals, while the
unsophisticated Nerve Force looks on in wonder.
But as an humble healer, who believes the simple and the cer-
tain law of Similia is the only real law of cure, I venture to assert
that the above fanciful pyrotechnics of so-called science are not
true; and that their action in the body does irreparable future
harm to the human economy. I assert that this chemical system,
so fashionable at present, and whose corner-stone is coal tar, is a
fallacy — that it is pseudo-science that the chemists preach. And
I assert that there is more in life than matter. That the house of
the soul was never intended for an experimental station for
chemists. I assert that the vital spark or soul or life force has
never been seen by the microscope, and that the equilibrium be-
tween health and disease is balanced by daintier methods than
those of the synthetic chemist.
And I aver that this vital spark or nerve force will surely
sometime rebel at this harlequin intrusion within its kingdom,
and will leave its desecrated dwelling place; then the man retort
will "die" and the experimental chemists and lazy doctors (not
true physicians) will call the cause of death — heart failure.
And now let us look calmly at this expanding balloon-bubble
known as synthetic chemistry. 0, it floats now as gracefully as
ivory soap and the sunshine of medical favor brings out its many
rainbow colors. But will it bear the X-Ray of science, the real
science, the science that knows, the scio? Aye, masters, there's
the rub!
Now one of the many remarkable things to be noted in the era
of the pharmaceutical chemist is the euphony of his nomenclature.
It is seldom that one finds such fertility of the imagination. How
happy the reason for the names! Like card houses — card upon
card; by the laws of orthography, root upon root, branch upon
branch; all strictly scientific! And how Old Sam, the dictionary
maker, would have revelled in these word roots!
Chemists and Physicians. 499
It reminds one of the endless chain of the biblical genealogy
that we listened to in childhood, where every other word was
begat. Dear, yes, these names have a reason; the name of prin-
ciple after principle is hitched to the root name until we have a
word whose length rivals the serpent of the sea. But does this
long drawn out name mean anything? There's the rub, my
masters!
Are the chemical products of the coal tar so largely advertised
and so lavishly manufactured by the pharmaceutical chemist of
any practical and permanent value in the healing of the sick ? Or,
do they not rather work positive harm ? Is there any real reason
for their existence aside from the wish of the pharmaceutical
chemist for gold and notoriety? For unless there is real value in
these bizarre products of analytic ingenuity, and unless it can be
clearly shown that we can control their action in the body, it
seems far from wise to prescribe them as lavishly and carelessly as
our grip-sack friends recommend. For all substances not neces-
sary to the nutrition of the body must be physiological irritants,
and hence to be used carefully as the poisons they undoubtedly
are.
There is nothing scientific in the modern craze for the elabora-
tion of coal tar extracts, this multiplication of active principles
so-called. There can be no wisdom in their use until their actual
effects on the economy have been discovered.
There is little of real value to the conscientious physician in the
booklets and pamphlets of sophistical medical description and
assertion that always accompany the cure-all samples.
To the real physician (not the commercial doctor), the old
family doctor, who has known many of his patients from child-
hood, who has doctored the children of some of his babies, who
is the friend as well as doctor, the rigid professional rule must
ever be: The best welfare of the patient. His treatment must in-
clude that method that will heal quickest, easiest, and without
leaving after-trouble. Not — what is easiest for the doctor, not the
number of dollars to be made out of the case. The commercial
physician will look after that sort of medical business.
You know, and I know, my friend, that the only right and
careful way to be certain of the effects of drugs upon the organism
is to give the drug or poison to the healthy and to watch its
effects. It may be admitted that all drugs are poisonous to the
body in a greater or less degree, inasmuch as they are not needful
500 Chemists and Physicians.
in nutrition. A chemical compound can not be a food. Xow if
we wish to see what stimulating or irritating effect any poison,
patent nostrum, synthetic extract, plain mineral or vegetable
poison can have upon the body we can only reach that knowledge
by proving its effects upon the healthy body. We can not deter-
mine its effects by giving it to the sick; for we do not know which
are disease and which drug symptoms.
And you know, and I know, my friend, that all the medical
knowledge of any real value we have in regard to drug action has
resulted from drug experiments upon healthy man and animals.
And you cannot tell what effect a poison will have on a man by
its action on an animal.
There is a growing idea among a certain class of ph}'sicians,
usually the young ones, that the old-fashioned doctor who looks
with doubt on the many new fangled fads of the synthetic chemist,
the wonderful (?) discoveries in germs and bacteriae, is behind the
times. He is a back number because he waits to see these dis-
coveries proven before falling down in worship before them It
would be well for these super- refined, double-plated, up-to-date
physicians to take heed to the biblical advice: Prove all things,
hold fast to that which is good. Let us as a profession not be
too much in a hurry to adopt Seng, and Cerevisine, and Aceto-
phenone, and Phenalgin, and Tritipalm, and Phenylmeth\ Ike-
tone, and Tongaline and Phenacetin, and Fermong, and Urotropin,
and Aminoform, and Pilocarpine, and Thermol, and all the rest of
the stuff because the grip-sack man tells us: My dear doctor, it is
just the thing for you; it is of great value; it soothes and lulls
and raises your patient to the seventh heaven of quick recovery.
Let us first be very sure that the old, everyday Aconite, or
B?yonia, or Belladonna, or Pulsatilla, or Sulphur of Hahnemann,
whose action we are sure of, will not do it in as fair a way and
without as much after-danger to the patient.
There is a growing fancy among certain of our school, usually
the younger men (they'll know better if they live), to sneer at
the man who prescribes according to the well-tried methods of
Hahnemann and to think it is not as scientific as the coal tar
medication or the fashionable fad of the hypodermic injection.
Wrong, my brothers, wrong. You have as a school got the only
real law of cure, and yet you wander off after the ignis fatuus of
medical folly.
It is of little account this assumption of superiority on the part
Chemists and Physicians. 501
of the so-called regular or allopathic school to those of us who
believe and practice in accordance with the law taught by Hahne-
mann; a law developed by him from the crude glimpses of truth
to be found in the writings of the masters medical from Hippo-
crates' day. For if there is really any regular practice to-day,
practice that is logical, in accord with law, it is that of the con-
sistent homoeopathic physician. And if ever in the history of
medicine there was irregular practice, wanderment after false
gods, it may be found to-day among the men who claim that they
are only physicians and have no school. For heaven sake, let us
not follow in their scientific footsteps, discovering one da}7, dis-
carding the next, imagining everything, sure of nothing.
And the trend of mind of the best among their thinkers is
toward the law Homoion. That a morbific substance will cure
the disease it produces. To be sure they have gotten only as far
as what is now called serum-therapy; use of glandular extracts to
cure diseases of the same gland, a bastard brother to Homoeop-
ath)7, or, to be more accurate, Isopathy. But there is hope in the
future for them, and some of these days we will find them testing
the effects of medicines on something besides cats and dogs, ^o,
my friend, this serum-therapy, or Isopathy, is nothing new, a
worthy gentleman of Germany, one Lux,* published a book on
the subject about seventy years ago. Brown-Sequard's discovery
of rejuvenation by means of the bill3r goat is written in the Egyp-
tian Book of Life. Some folks think these discoveries of to-day
are new And so they are to them. But do you not recall what
Solomon said about new things? And now, work in this line may
result in practical benefit, for back of Isopathy there is reason and
medical law.
But — what scientific reason can exist for prescribing a lot of
patented chemical products, either singly or in combination, of
whose real action on the body we are for the most part ignorant ?
To my mind, none whatever. Read the pamphlets so lavishly
circulated to the woe of the postman and the annoyance of the
doctor: what do you find under the meretricious glitter of medical
generality of words ? Pure empiricism, guess work as to the
action of the drugs, warnings as to possible after effects from
*Lux, Joh. Jos. Wilh. Die Isopathik der contagionen, oder: Alle an-
steckenden Krankheiten tragen in ihrem eigenen Ansteckungsstoffe das
mittel zu ihrer Heiluug, detn Soriphaen der Homoopatliik zur strengen
Prufuug vorgelegt, Leipzig. Koelmanu. 1833.
502 Insanity Permanently Cured in Six Weeks.
their use. Then why use them when we have medicines right at
hand whose effects we know ?
There is too much so-called science at the present day among
doctors and too little real knowledge; too many specialists and
too few family doctors; too many lazy doctors leaning on the
crutches of the pharmaceutical chemists, and too few who are
willing conscientiously to study up their cases. Is it any wonder
that the people, tired of being cut and injected and antipyretized
and hyptonized and narcotized, turn with gratitude to the mild in-
sanities of Eddy and Dowie ?
It it any wonder that the man who calls in a physician and
gets injections of various sedatives, or is told to go to the drug
store for a more or less compound prescription, in which he sees
one or more proprietary remedies, buys these remedies or loses
faith in modern medicine and turns to Christian science ?
Perhaps the trend of thought of the layman toward the phy-
sician can not be better illustrated than by quoting a short edi-
torial that appeared in the New York Journal last April:
Why Should Orthodox Medicine Dread Competition ?
Irregular practitioners of healing arts are finding at Albany that eternal
vigilance is the price of toleration. A little while ago it was Christian
Science that was to be rooted out; then it was osteopathy, and now it is.
hypnotism and suggestive therapeutics.
No doubt there is much quackery in all these schools. It is not entirely
unknown in the regular practice of medicine. But such progress as has been
made thus far in the knowledge of the human bod}' and of the art of treat-
ing its diseases has been made through the liberty of the individual to sub-
ject himself to experiment. If the various kinds of practitioners were to
match graveyards the cemeteries of the regulars would be found not the
least imposing.
And when the regular physicians make medicine a true science they will
not find it necessary to run to the Legislature for laws to protect themselves
against the competition of heretical outsiders. The astronomers do not
have to work for statutes to keep the public from deserting them for the ex-
pounders of the doctrine that the sun do move.
T. L. Bradford, M. D.
A CASE OF VIOLENT INSANITY OF SEVERAL
YEARS' STANDING PERMANENTLY CURED
IN LESS THAN SIX WEEKS.
By Dr. W. S. Moat, Phila., Pa.
On February 28, 1897, was called a few miles in the country to
see Mrs. T. B., wife of a farmer, aged 27, tall, slender, dark hair
and eyes, very sallow skin, weight no lbs., mother of a healthy
girl seven years of age. When this child was one year old her
Insanity Permanently Cured in Six Weeks. 503
mother (the subject of this article) became insane and was sent to
a hospital here in the city, and after a time was sent home ap-
parently cured. A few months after she began to show signs of
her former trouble, and continued to gradually grow worse from
time to time during the next five years, which brings us up to the
time of my first visit. Found her in half reclining position in
bed, totally unconscious , head inclined to one side, and a bloody
saliva running from her mouth down over her chin and neck. I
told the nurse that she ought to swab out her mouth frequently,
as it was in a very bad condition. '" I often do try to do it, but
her jaws appear to be set or locked, and cannot get anything be-
tween them." I was somewhat surprised at this statement, and
approached the patient and tried to pull down her chin to look at
tongue. To my surprise it would not move. ' ' How and when
do you give her nourishment?" "She takes only liquid food
from a spoon, and only at such times as she is parti}7 under the
influence of these tablets the doctor left to keep her quiet and
make her sleep. For when she is not under their effect she is a
raving maniac, and no one person can do anything with her. It
takes her husband, the hired man, and myself to keep her from
severely injuring herself, or some member of the family. So in
order to get some rest ourselves, and keep her quiet, we can do no
better than give her these tablets." " How are her bowels and
bladder?" "Oh! she has had no control over them for several
months past. I keep an oil-cloth sheet on her bed, and look after
her in every way as if she were a child." At this juncture I had
her bed brought close to the window in order to make an internal
examination^. When the abdomen was exposed I found the
umbilicus very much depressed and drawn downward and back-
ward to such an extent as to throw the abdominal walls into deep,
half moon-shaped folds all the way down to the pubes. In-
troduced speculum, found vagina short, but otherwise normal.
Uterus prolapsed. Fundus in hollow of sacrum. Xeck crowded
down on neck of bladder and ulcerated. Os under the pubis, and
the whole organ very much congested. I then undertook to
liberate the uterus from its impacted position. The heart's action
being very weak I was more than an hour in accomplishing the
task. Then put up a few powders of Ferritin plws. and Bell., to
be dissolved in water, and given chiefly for the bloody saliva from
mouth and perhaps the throat. Was at her bedside on this occa-
sion about two hours, and when I left there were no signs of
504 Insanity Permanently Cured in Six Weeks.
returning consciousness. The next day (March 1st), on second
call, found her sitting up in bed in half comatose condition; asked
me who I was. "You are not my doctor. I did not send for
you " etc. At this visit replaced uterus; gave Fer. phos. 3X and
Bryonia on pellets dissolved in water, every hour, in alternation,
same as the day before.
March 4th, third call. Bloody discharge from mouth very
much better. Continued same medicine.
March 8th, fourth call. Found patient in an ugly mood, and
under no circumstance would she allow me to put my hands on
her. Mr. B. (her husband) had been called away on business,
and as there was no one to assist me but the nurse I had to post-
pone the intended uterine replacement. Same medicine continued.
March nth, fifth call. Found patient in far worse frame of
mind than at last visit. She declared in the language of a most
insane person that I should never again touch her. Her husband,
nurse and I tried to reason, persuade, and in a mild way coerce
her to submit, but to no purpose. Then by main force she was
held down in bed, while I made the necessary replacement of
uterus as on previous occasions. No change in medicine.
March 15th, sixth visit. Patient very much more calm and
made very little objection and no resistance to usual mode of
treatment. Uterine replacement and gave Ferrum phos. 3X and
Hydrastis C. as in alternation or combination, my case-book does
not say which. The navel was not so much drawn down, and the
heavy half-moon shaped folds in abdominal walls were not so
heavy or deep. Also, the bowels and bladder were under much
better control.
March 18th, seventh call. Patient out of bed, dressed and
about her room. Would not talk much, but gave me to under-
stand that she would have no internal treatment that day. Her
husband being away from home gave her the advantage of the
situation. " Doctor," said the nurse, " do not go too near her.
I saw her take a knife from the table just as you came in the
door, and she would not be a bit too good to use it." From that
moment I gave her a wide berth for that day. Continued Fer.
Phos. and fdyd. C. as before.
March 22d and eighth visit. Patient in better mood. Talked
more rationally; taking more food; bowels and bladder perform
their functions better than for years. Replaced uterus and con-
tinued medicine as at last call.
Insanity Permanently Cured in Six Weeks.
ouo
March 29th, ninth visit. Patient very much better in every
particular. Everybody interested. Perfectly satisfied with the
improvement. Replaced uterus and continued medicine as at last
call.
April 1st, tenth visit. Patient improving in the most satis-
factory manner. No more bloody saliva from mouth and throat,
as above mentioned. Bowels and bladder perform their natural
functions. Skin better color. Had gained some in weight.
Uterine replacement and continued medicine as at last visit.
April 5th, eleventh and last visit, and with it came astonish-
ment as much as delight. Found my patient not only up and
around her room, as on previous occasions, but dressed in her
best and only waiting for a carriage. The following I quote from
memory, to show the state of her mind: " G )od morning, Mrs.
B." "Good morning, doctor. Well, doctor, for reasons best
known to myself , have concluded to discontinue, for the present at
least, any further treatment. I am first going to see my mother
and stay over night. To-morrow I am going to Norristown to do
some shopping. From there I will go to Plainfield, X. J , to
spend ten days with my husband's mother. From there I expect
to go to Philadelphia, and will stop with one of my sisters, and
should I need any more treatment will either send for you or
call at your office." At this juncture I bade her good-by. The
next time I heard from this woman was some time in June fol-
lowing, and to my astonishment w7as informed that she and her
father had gone to Atlantic City and opened a boarding house. I
heard from her indirectly several times during the next eighteen
months, and that she had not showed any signs of her former
trouble. Sometime in May, 1899, or a little over two years after
I last saw her, two women called at my office. " Good morning,
ladies. What can I do for you?" "Doctor, you do not appear
to know me." "No, I do not remember that I ever had the
pleasure of meeting you before." " Do you not remember treat-
ing Mrs. B., near Glenside?" " Yes, I do." " Well, I am she."
"How has your health been since our last interview ?" " First
rate. Have no trouble save a little pain in b ick occasionally
since I last saw you, but should I require any professional atten-
tion I know where to come. ' '
1 6 10 N. 15th St., Pkila.
506 Homoeopathic Medical Association of Texas.
MEETING OF THE HOMCEOPATHIC MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS.
The seventeenth session of the Texas Homoeopathic Medical
Association met at Dallas, October 8 and 9, 1901, President I. C.
West, of Dallas, presiding.
An unusually large number of members was present, and sev-
eral new members were elected, while several more former mem-
bers reinstated themselves.
The Association seems to be in a very prosperous condition.
Alter necessary routine business the Association listened with
interest to several excellent papers, among which were one on
' Crataegus " by Dr. Julia H. Bass; one on " Progress of Homoe-
opathy in Texas," with suggestions how to promote such prog-
ress, by Dr. Gorton; one on "A Case of Typhoid," by Dr. F. L
Griffith, and one of especial interest by Dr. Herman Peterman, of
Ardmore, I. T. , on "Treatment of Cancer," wherein Dr. P. de-
scribed his treatment, purely homoeopathic prescribing of internal
remedies, of thirty cases during several years. Of these cases ten
were fully and permanently cured. Of these ten cured cases all
had been confidently diagnosed cancer by several physicians of
both schools, and some of them had been operated on, recurring
after operation. The Doctor's most frequent remedies were
Conium, Calc. card., Silica, Carbo an., Arsenic, Phos. and Thuja.
All of the papers were thoroughly discussed.
The Secretary read a paper from the Minnesota Homoeopathic
Medical Institute proposing a congressional commission to experi-
ment and investigate the arsenic prophylaxis for yellow fever. On
motion the President was authorized to appoint a committee to
investigate the theory and report to the Association at the next
meeting. He appointed Drs. Gorton, Streeter and E. E. Davis.
Election of officers for 1902 resulted as follows :
President, Dr. \V. D. Gorton, of Austin ; First Vice-President,
Dr. W. F. Thatcher, of Dallas ; Second Vice-President, Dr. E. E.
Davis of Dallas ; Secretary, Dr. Julia H. Bass, of Austin ; Treas-
urer, Dr. T. J. Crowe, of Dallas.
Legislative Committee, Drs. Gorton, Brenizer and Griffith, all
of Austin.
Adjourned sine die.
H. B. Stiles, M. D., Secretary,
Ferrum Picric um in Prostatic Ail mods. 507
FERRUM PICRICUM IN PROSTATIC AILMENTS.
Translated for the Homceopathic Recorder from the Allg. Horn. Zeit.,
October, 1901.
Dr. De Wer has confirmed the action of Ferrum picricum in
hypertrophy of the prostatic glands and in the accompanying
urinary troubles in the following case :
An old man, 70 years of age, who was ascertained to be suffer-
ing from a considerable hypertrophy [of the middle lobe of the
prostate, also suffered from retention of urine, and owing to the
stagnation of the urine and the ammoniacal fermentation developed
in it an inflammation of the bladder developed. The urine kept
dripping down continually while the patient was standiug up.
After two successful efforts to introduce the soft melatonic probe,
the patient was given Ferrum pncricum 3 every hour. In the
course of two days the discharge of the urine returned to its
normal course, and the old gentleman has felt well ever since.
Atropin in Ischias.
A woman, 70 years of age, with pronounced neurasthenia, was
suffering besides from a very painful ischia. For years she had
been using opiates and preparations made from coal-tar, but with-
out much success. She could hardly limp into the office. Every-
thing pointed to nervous exhaustion. She was given Atropi?i 3D.
four times a day, and this produced so great an improvement that
in two months no sign of ischia could be seen. Her nervous
symptoms, however, remained.
In Atropin we find general hyperesthesia, twitching and tearing
pains vanishing as quickly as they come ; they are usually more
on the one side; attended with great restlessnes; turning and twist-
ing about in bed; the skin is reddened and sensitive — symptoms
not unfrequently seen in ischias. (It is to be noted, that, also in
this case, opiates had first been used.)
ALCOHOL COMPRESSES IN SUPPURATION.
The good effects of alcohol in its external application in phleg-
monous inflammations, both before and after suppuration has set
in, was first noted by Salzwedel some years ago, and then attested
by Sup. Medical Councilor, Dr. von Sick, for he ascribed the ef-
fects of Bolle's arnica compresses for wounds chiefly to the action
508 Alcohol Compresses in Suppuration.
of the alcohol. This use of alcohol has lately been confirmed by
Dr. Elschner.
Of the nascent cases in which suppuration had not as yet ap-
peared two were especially instructive.
In one patient, owing to the sting of a fly on the dorsum of the
right hand, the whole hand and forearm were swollen and doughy,
the skin being of an intense red. There were lymphatic streaks
extending all the way to the elbow; the axillary glands were
swollen and very painful. No pus could be discovered. A com-
press soaked in alcohol was applied from the first phalanx of the
finger all the way to the elbow joint. Next day the swelling and
pains had altogether disappeared and the patient could return to
his work.
In the second case there was a bubo of the size of a pigeon egg
which already showed some fluctuation at its apex. An incision
could not be made, owing to some reasons which seemed weighty
to the patient. The application of ice proved without effect. So
the author used the alcohol compress, on which on the third day
there was a diminution of the swelling and of the subjective
troubles. In this case the compress was so arranged that after it
was applied, as soon as the patient from a slight burning sensation
at the point affected perceived that the alcohol was evaporated, he
could raise up the compress a little and pour in more alcohol, so
that the compress could remain unchanged for several days.
(Bolle's treatment was quite similar, as he directs the patient to
pour on new alcohol from time to time, so long as there is no smell
of pus. ) In three weeks the cure was effected.
The author had splendid results from the alcoholic compress in
furuncles, carbuncles, panaritia and phlegmons after the pus had
been discharged. In a few days, the suppuration ceased, the sur-
face of the wound was covered with fine granulation, and a cure
was quickly secured after strewing on some Itrol.
The author made a comparative experiment in a series of nine
severe cases of panaritium which successively came under his
treatment. The one case after incision he treated with alcohol,
the other with warm -and moist poultices, compresses, bathing,
powder, etc. While the suppuration even in the most severe cases,
where alcohol was used, was ended in two to three days, in the
other cases it required five to ten days, and a full cure required
fourteen to twenty days, while with alcohol a cure was effected in
five to eight days. The same action he also found in infected
wounds.
Supra- Orbital Neuralgia. m 509
His treatment is the following : He takes six or eight thick-
nesses of the cotton used for compresses and soaks it in the strongest
alcohol, lays it on the place affected and covers it with perforated
mosetig-battistes or with gutta percha paper; then follows a layer
of raw cotton and a common compress. This compress remains
unchanged for twenty-four hours, in very severe cases for twelve
hours. — From Therapie der Gegenwart, No. 9, 1899.
SUPRA-ORBITAL NEURALGIA.
By Dr. Mossa.
Translated from Allg. Horn. Z., September, 1901, for the Homeopathic
Recorder.
It is not always easy to determine at what point of nerve, espe-
cially in case of a sensory nerve, a pathological or pathogenic irrita-
tion may be applied, whether inside or outside of the cranium or
at the peripheric termination. This is also seen in neuralgias, es-
pecially in those which are supra-orbital. Lately the writer had a
patient who in his childhood had suffered much from cerebral ir-
ritation, and, after he had grown up, eve^ time he took a cold there
appeared a supra-orbital neuralgia, especially since influenza has
become so prevalent. These attacks which were especially wont
to recur in spring usually lasted quite a while and were influenced
by the allopathic treatment furnished either little or not at all.
Now the patient desired to make a trial of Homoeopathy in his ail-
ment. On the 8th of May he was again seized with a violent
flowing coryza, inflammatory irritation of the conjunctiva, espe-
cially on the right side, considerable lachrymation, and a violent
pressive pain above the supra-orbital region which was regularly
aggravated at 7-8 A. M. and 1-2 p. m., when it diminished, disap-
pearing altogether at night, so that he could sleep well. His con-
dition is most tolerable in the room and at rest. The senses of
smell and of taste are dulled.
Two remedies, Spigelia and Natrum mur., most correspond to
this image. Both have great sensitiveness to cold air, and fluent
coryza at the least cold, both have periodical headache, especially
pressure above the supra-orbital region; but in Natrum mur. the
forenoon is clearly the time of the attack. The obtuseness of the
senses of smell and of taste are specially prominent in Natrum
mur. But as I had not the time to make an exact differential
510 Pycemia Cured by Arsenicum.
diagnosis I determined to prescribe the two remedies in alterna-
tion. The patient was accordingly given five drops of Spigelia 6
Dil. in the morning at ten o'clock and Natrum mtcr. 6 Trit. at 8
p. m. The effect was so brlllant that the patient was greatly
pleased at this success of Homoeopathy. He had never been so
quickly liberated from his troublesome pain. — From Report of
6<?th General Meeting of the Central Horn. Soc. of Germany.
PYEMIA FROM PERITONITIS CURED BY
ARSENICUM.
By Dr. Chr. von Hartungen.
Translated for the Homoeopathic Recorder, from the Leipziger
Pop. Z. f. Horn., October, 1901.
Mrs. Anna W., owner of a house in St. Pankratz, Ultner Valley,
without hereditary taint, sixty-four years of age, and the mother
of six children, the last one having been born two years ago, was
taken sick about the middle of April, 1901, wTith peritonitis. She
was under allopathic treatment, highly anaemic and was sent for re-
convalescence on the 1st of July to Mitterbad, where there are
springs containing iron and arsenic. On the 2d of July the pa-
tient took her first bath. In the course of the next day a chill set
in followed by continued heat, attended with considerable pains
above the ileo-ccecal region, with vomiting and continued nausea.
Cold compresses with allopathic mixtures aggravated her condi-
tion. The only relief was obtained from a preparation of morphine.
In the evening the resident physician who had just returned from
Bozen was called in. During the night from July 3d to July 4th,
the use of morphine was discontinued and the application of hot
steam compresses was taken up.
July 4th, 10 a. m., there was presented the following image:
The abdomen distended, tense, painful w7hen touched, and also
otherwise when there was cough, respiration, vomiting; in short
at every least movement there was caused extreme aggravation of
the pain. Four centimeters above the ileo-ccecal region a swell-
ing (exudate) eight centimeters in length and four centimeters in
width was discovered. There was constipation, short, frequent
respiration, and a similar hard pulse with severe thirst. The tone
of percussion on the swollen place was slight, empty, considerable
prostration of strength, the temperature was almost constant at
Pycemia Cured by Arsenicum. 511
38. 50 (101.30 F.). Very scant urine. The extremities cool.
Diagnosis : Peritonitis circumscripta. Prescription : Externally
three times every twenty-four hours steam compresses to b^ ap-
plied; at every application four compresses were to be applied, each
one to act seven minutes. Internally, Belladonna and Bryonia
were given in alternation. Dr. P., the hospital physician in Ober-
lana, wTho was called in without my wishes, prescribed internally
Calomel and externally an ointment of Ichthyol. But owing to
former experience with these remedies, they were not used. On
the 6th of July the patient received in agreement with the com-
plex of her symptoms Mercurius vivns. In the night from the
seventh to the eighth of July two chills set in, each one lasting
half an hour, and these were repeated on the following day. Long
continued insomina. The temperature steady at 1030 F. Begin-
ning with July 8th Arsenicum 15 was given every six hours. The
steam compresses were discontinued. The shaking chills during
the subsequent twenty-four hours were much shorter in time and
appeared three times with a marked diminution in the virulence.
The general condition showed an essential improvement. On the
9th of July there was a quite decided relaxation of the fever,
down below 98. 6° F. The sensitiveness of the abdominal integu-
ments decreased; she had a quiet sleep for 1-2 hours. On the 10th
of Jul}7 there were only two traces of chills, the general improve-
ment continued, and there was a little appetite. The stomach has
sunk in; it is soft and less sensitive to the touch. Glycerine sup-
positories wrere successfully used to remove the constipation. On
the nth and on the 12th of July there were exhaustive sweats in
the morning, causing the patient to lose strength. China was now
given in alternation with Arsenicum. On the nights that fol-
lowed there wras refreshing sleep lasting several hours. The per-
spiration in the morning has stopped. The patient partakes copi-
ouslj7 of food, consisting of milk, homoeopathic coffee and tea.
July 15th. The swelling now is four centimeters in length and
two in width; it hardly pains when touched and is being absorbed.
The patient is able to sit up, and can remain in this position half
an hour at a time, three times a day. On the 17th of July the
patient left her bed and daily spends an hour outside of it. On
the 19th and 20th of July, she took short walks outside. Begin-
ning with July 16th, the patient received daily two doses otSulphu)
to quicken the resolution of the exudate. On the 27th of July an
512 A Stramonium Case.
objective examination found everything normal; no swelling is
visible, and her subjective condition is excellent. Accordingly
the patient is completely cured and is leaving for home.
Mitterbad, August zst, ipoi.
A STRAMONIUM CASE.
By Dr. Mau, Kiel.
Translated for the HomcEopathic Recorder.
A young woman in the twenties was confined three weeks ago.
During the last eight days she has been very restless and excited.
She speaks almost continually day and night, and in her delirium
she brings in all manner of things and persons. At times she talks
in rhymes, sings and prays. Her mood and delirium is at times
exuberantly merry and gay; then again it passes into melancholy
and weeping. Her sleep is much disturbed, she hardly sleeps
three hours out of the twenty- four. Sometimes she jumps out of
bed, as if in a fright, and endeavors to escape.
When I entered the sick-room, the patient was sitting up in
bed, with a light-red face, her hands raised as in prayer, at the
same time rocking her body from side to side, as also forward and
backward; these movements were graceful and elegant, not awk-
ward or clumsy, and she kept talking of a distant relative in an
almost solemn voice. I had at once to think of Stramonium, but
continued my questions, enquiring whether the patient had had
any visions or hallucinations, and whether darkness or light,
company or loneliness, had influence on her state. But the answer
was negative. I only elicited that at the beginning (a week ago)
she had fits of rage and had beaten those around her. In the be-
ginning Belladonna was probably indicated, and — if given im-
mediately on the first day — it would probably have at once effected
a cure. But we Homoeopaths have always the pleasure of getting
sight of the cases only when the process of disease has lasted some
time and other methods have been used without any effect. In
this case there hid already been a consultation between two phy-
sicians. But as they evidently knew nothing of Homoeopathy,
nothing had been gained. Stramonium given for ten days, alter-
nating with the 5th, the 30th, and the 200th potencies, brought a
slow and steady improvement, so that the patient was restored in
scarcely three weeks.
Loss of Speech Cured With Causticum. 513
CURE OF PARALYSIS OF THE FACE AND LOSS
OF SPEECH WITH CAUSTICUM.
By Dr. Chr. von Hartungen, at the Horn. Sanitarium
on the Garda Lake.
Mr. Max. H., 40 years old, married and living in Rendnitz,
near Leipzig, without any constitutional ailments and in a normal
state, had suffered in 1878 from a heavy pressive pain on the side
of the head and transit paralysis of the face. In 1883 this
attack recurred, as also in 1891. In July, 1900, there was for
several hours a paralysis of the speech and convulsions of the
arms and the face. In March, 1901, there appeared paratysis of
the left side of the face and of the tongue with convulsions of the
hands. This lasted from one to two hours and the attacks re-
curred once or twice a week. Treatment with cold water and
wTith electricity proved ineffectual. On the 12th of May the pa-
tient was first treated homceopathically. On this day and on the
14th of May there appeared again, shortly after noon, a paralysis
of the left side of face with loss of speech and convulsions in the
right hand, with a sensation of numbness and deadness, accom-
panied with a paralytic, trembling weakness, and a fretful, pas-
sionate disposition. During these attacks the brain seemed to
retain its full unimpairedness. This hemiplegia only seized on
individual voluntary muscles, the extensors and supinators of
the hand, and on the muscles of the face and of the tongue. The
muscles of the body, of the thighs and the legs were untouched
by it. The paralysis is complete, but only middling in degree.
The parts paralyzed are sensitive to electricity, but not to touch
and warmth. The fundamental cause is probably hyperaemia of
the brain.
On the 14th of May, after the second attack, in Riva, the pa-
tient received Causticum, 15 D., every six hours. On the 15th of
May there was no attack, but instead of it a restless, anxious,
sleepless night. On the 17th of May the patient received Causti-
cum only twice a day, his condition was quite normal and there
was no further attack. On the 4th of June Mr. Max. H. left Riva
perfectly restored.
514 Origin of the Keeley Cure.
ORIGIN OF THE KEELEY CURE.
Overholt, of Tennessee, some years since, wrote an article for the
Medical Summary, telling its readers how to cure mania, or alco-
holism. We read the article carefully and pondered it over in our
mind, but we had other important work on hand and let it go by
until we saw an advertisement by one Dr. Keeley, of Dwight, 111.,
who claimed to have discovered a mixture of Chloride of gold, etc.,
that would readily cure all cases of chronic alcoholism. By judi-
cious advertising people went to Dwight by the thousand and sent
their friends. This excitement caused us to recall Dr. Overholt's
statement in the Medical Summa?y, and we investigated the
matter. After writing Dr. Overholt we tried the treatment and
it did cure some twenty-five patients that we tested it on. Dr.
Keeley made over a million dollars out of Dr. Overholt's discovery.
Dr. Overholt was ethical, while Dr. Keeley made the money. Dr.
Keeley did perhaps discover that by injecting very small amounts
of Apomorphine hydrochloride that it would nauseate the stomach
just sufficient to make the patient think the whiskey was dis-
agreeable and set him against it quicker than if he used the Co-
caine mur. and Gold et sodium, etc. only. The gold was useless,
except as an alternative and tonic. — Dr. F. Clendenon in Medical
Summary.
DO NOT TELL THE PATIENT THE NAME OF
THE REMEDY.
Dr. Dietz mentioned something which I learned long ago, never
to give the name of a remedy to a patient. I had a sad experi-
ence in that line once. When I was a student of medicine a friend
of mine wanted me, before I commenced practice, to treat him
after I got to be a doctor. I took his case, read up the symptoms
from Lippe's Materia Medica, and while I was waiting on some
other patients he looked over Lippe's Materia Medica also. I
selected a remedy according to that Materia Medica; it was
Natrum muriaticum. It was a very dangerous drug. I gave it
to the patient in the 30th potency. In a few days he came back
and had some other symptoms. I took out my Materia Medica.
" Well," I said, " these symptoms are contained in that drug, so
Olive Oil. 515
just go on with that remedy." The symptoms he complained of
were sleeplessness, bad dreams, and so on. The fellow finally got
worse, he could not sleep and he came into my office one day and
he said he would study a little Materia Medica; so he takes this
book of mine and he reads over Natrum muriaticum, and he had
all the symptoms he read. He tears out the page that had the
sleep symptoms on, sticks that in his pocket and goes away. After-
wards he became a hypochondriac and monomaniac on the sub-
ject, and he told it all around that I had taken away his sleep by
this powerful medicine and the result was that it had a bad effect
on him. But ever since then I never told a patient what remedy
I gave, because it did him no good, but did him harm, and, at
the same time, the remedy was just as innocent as it could be.
Let us study our Materia Medica, and that is the way it will come,
not as a lost art, but a living reality. — Dr. A. P. Bowie, Penna.
Trans.
OLIVE OIL.
The benefit to be derived from olive oil, both as a medicine and
a food, is not sufficiently appreciated by physicians. Especially in
chronic biliary and intestinal affections will it be found useful.
Given in conjunction with a good hepatic regulator its nourishing
and reconstructive properties are exerted to their full effect.
In all those cases where there is indigestion of starchy foods
olive oil supplies the system with a ready heat and force-making
food. It appears to exert a direct alterative influence in constitu-
tional diseases, more especially where there is derangement of the
liver and kidney functions. Neuralgic nerves are greatly bene-
fited, sometimes permanently cured, by the stead}' use of olive
oil.
If the stomach becomes intolerant under the prolonged admin-
istration of the oil it may be given by high enema or by external
application.
The great difficulty in the use of olive oil is to get a perfectly
pure article, but the growing recognition of its value as a food
and also a remedy of certain value will, sooner or later, insure us
a perfectly pure oil by the old reliable p.oprietary route. Some
honest, enterprising man will set up the guarantee of his name
and reputation as a protection against adulteration and imposition.
Biliary and intestinal colics, appendicitis and neuralgias are the
516 Uric Acid Fallacies.
latest diseases to be successfully treated by the use of olive oil
in large doses continued over a considerable period. It is the
best laxative for infants and young children. — Medical Brief.
URIC ACID FALLACIES.
Dr. Frank Billings, of Chicago, in a paper read before the Illi-
nois State Medical Society on " Uric Acid Fallacies," and printed
in American Medicine of October 1 2th. concludes as follows:
Some of the fallacies of uric acid are, therefore:
i. That uric acid is toxic.
2. That it is a causative factor in any disease except gout.
3. That " uricacidemia," meaning acid blood, exists.
4. That the chemic reaction of the blood may be altered by the
use of medicinal quantities of the alkalies or by diet.
5. That uratic deposits may be dissolved out by the administra-
tion of alkalies.
6. That Lithia is a uric acid solvent of unusual potency.
7. That uric acid is an abnormal constituent of the urine.
8.- That an excess of uric acid in the urine at one time or a de-
ficiency at another time indicates an abnormal condition in refer-
ence to uric acid.
9. That rheumatism is due to uric acid.
As stated in the first part of this paper, to-day's knowledge of
uric acid is not so much in the possession of positive knowledge,
but rather in the fact that we have thrown aside a lot of theories
and absurdities. I hope this paper may have some influence in
a dissemination of the facts, that most of the old theories in refer-
ence to uric acid are dead and buried, and that it is not in good
form to resurrect and exploit the old skeletons.
CRATAEGUS OXYACANTHA IN HEART FAILURE.
By Frederick Kopp, Greenwich, N. S. W.
Personal experience with the new heart remedy, Cratagus
oxyacantha, has compelled me to pronounce myself as an advocate
in its favor as a most reliable cardiac tonic. I have found that
there is absolutely no reaction following its administration, as there
is iii some of the other heart remedies, and this, it must be admit-
ted, is a most important attribute of the drug, and one which will
Cratcegus Oxyacantha t?i Heart Failure. 517
commend itself to the favorable attention of every physician who
is not only interested in the introduction of new remedies to aid
him in this fight against disease, but who has also his patients'
welfare at heart. The action of Cratcegus oxyacantha is gentle,
prompt, and effective, and it has a decided toning-up influence on
the whole nervous system. I cannot speak too highly of it in cases
of cardiac weakness, and have made use of it in the majority of
cases in preference to Digitalis purpurea and Ferrum. Resembling
in its action that of Strophauthus, it is far safer in its administration
than that drug, and is, moreover, pleasant to the taste, which
cannot be said of Strophanthus It also increases the appetite, im-
proving at the same time both assimilation and nutrition. It has,
furthermore, a marked influence in removing the irritability so
often met with in patients suffering from cardiac trouble; it raises
their spirits, causing them to appear more cheerful. The action
of the new remedy is gradual, which I hold to be a great point in
its favor, as I have little confidence in so-called cardiac remedies
which give sudden relief. A case of cardiac weakness, consequent
on senile decay, recently came under my notice. The patient,
aged 75, whilst stirring some porridge over a fire, suddenly felt a
queer feeling come over him, accompanied with great oppression
in the cardiac region and vertigo, and fell down on to the floor in-
sensible. As soon as I saw the case I administored ten drops of
Cratcegus oxyacantha, and gave instructions for the same dose to
be repeated three times daily after meals. The drug had a most
beneficial effect, and gradually strengthened the heart-beat, which
before had been slow, almost imperceptible, and intermittent.
Although over six months have now elapsed none of the symptoms
mentioned above returned, and the patient feels an improvement
in every way. The administration of the drug was continued for
over a month without causing any after-effects, although thirty
minims of the mother tincture were given daily, divided into three
doses. I have, however, found that to obtain the best effect of
this new heart remedy it is essential that it should be administered
in the mother tincture and in comparatively large doses. The same
beneficial result cannot be obtained by small doses of the various
dilutions. Such, at least, has not alone been my experience, but
also that of a number of Homoeopathic physicians in the United
States of America, where the drug has gained a great reputation
in the treatment of heart affections. In addition to the above
quoted case several other instances of cardiac weakness have come
5 1 8 The City of Desperate Hope.
under my personal notice in which the new remedy was a complete
success. I must say this for Crataegus oxyacantha, that it is a
remedy which I should always like to have on hand, and one
which I could ill afford to do without.
Crataegus Oxyacantha in the Collapse of Typhoid.
Cratcegus oxyacantha should not be lost sight of in those cases
of typhoid fever in which there is a sudden collapse. In a case
brought under my notice the action of the new remedy was very
prompt. The patient was a little girl, twelve years of age, who
in the third week of the fever suffered a sudden collapse. Cactus
grandiflorus , Strychnia , and Digitalis purpurea were administered
without effect, and she was then given five-drop doses of Cratcegus
oxyacantha every two hours. The result was that she rallied at
once, and eventually made a good recovery. The indications,
which called for the administration of the drug, were : Cold ex-
tremities, great pallor, irregular breathing, and the pulse 120, and
very weak and irregular. Before the Crataegus was given the con-
dition described above had existed for two days, and only temporary
relief had been obtained from the administration of Strychnia and
the other heart tonics. Prompt and decided relief, however, was
obtained from Cratagus oxyacantha, and a permanent cure was
established. — Homoeopathic World.
"THE CITY OF DESPERATE HOPE."
To the Editor of the Homoeopathic Recorder.
Sir: — The gentleman whose communication under the above
heading appears in your able journal of August 15th instant has
seen fit, without signing his name in full, to pour contumely upon
the work of one who is not here to defend his own writings; to
describe anything that the late Dr. Burnett wrote as ''sorry
stuff" bespeaks an absolute ignorance of the man, the character
of his work, and his methods of procedure. We. in this country,
who knew him intimately, who frequently had the invaluable
privilege of hearing from his own lips concise descriptions of his
professional methods, and who enjoyed opportunities of watching
the results of his treatment among intimate friends of our own,
and of cases that come under our immediate cognizance, which he
cured after having been pronounced incurable by some of the
most eminent specialists this country has produced, are well as-
The City of Desperate Hope. 519
sured that there was nothing remarkable in the case which S. A.
J. is pleased to describe as "sorry stuff;" and further, we are
satisfied that there were hundreds of similar cases which, under
Burnett's care, furnished equally startling proof of the reliability
of his methods.
Unfortunately for the world at large, there are too many skeptics
in the medical profession, homoeopathic as well as allopathic, who
are unable to give credence to anything which their narrow mental
calibre is unable to grasp, and who do not hesitate to attempt to
bespatter the work of one whose shoe's latchet during his lifetime
they were not worthy to unloose, and I very much fear S. A. J. is
among the number. If S. A. J. entertains any honest doubts
concerning the value of Bactl/znum and other similar zoic reme-
dies in high attenuations, such as the late Dr. Burnett used to
rely upon, let him first do what every honest professional man
should do before inveighing against them, namely, investigate
and test for himself.
I have in my own branch of medicine given something like
twenty years' close attention to this subject, and I am satisfied
from observations too numerous to quote that, Koch notwith-
standing, tuberculosis is essentially a bovine disease, and readily
communicable to the human subject. I am also satisfied from
extensive experience that tuberculosis is curable in subjects that
have been treated with the virus in high attenuation; and further,
I am equally satisfied that the disease is not capable of spontane-
ous cure, nor alone by means of the so-called fresh air cure; and
I confidently aver that any professional man who says that fresh
air without suitable remedial agents will cure a well-established
case of tuberculosis is taking upon himself an unwarrantable
responsibility towards the sufferers and their friends, and is doing
his best to involve them in speedy and cruel disappointment.
If S. A. J. is a professional physician with or without any lean-
ings to Homoeopathy, let him communicate with Dr. Alabone, of
51 Highbury Quatrant, London, who will, I doubt not, be able to
give him a few wrinkles as to the real value of open air and what
else is necessary to grapple successfully with this insidious and
too often fatal disease; so long as S. A. J. remains in his present
state of mind, there is little use in commending all Dr. Burnett's
works to his serious attention, but it would be difficult to discover
anything in literature that would prove of greater value to him if
he desires to learn the truth.
Yours faithfully,
J. SUTCUFFE HURNDALL, M. R. C. V. S.
Sussex Villas, Kensingto?i, Loyidon, 29th Aug., igoi.
520 Book Notices.
BOOK NOTICES.
The Composite Man. As comprehended in Fourteen Anatom-
ical Impersonations. By E. H. Pratt, M. D., IX. D. Illus-
trations by Dr. Frederick H. Williams. 150 pages. Cloth.
$1.50.
Each of the fourteen men which make the " Composite Man "
speak in the first person and each are illustrated. "The Bony
Man ' ' leads off and describes all his duties and pecularities Then
follow the muscular, arterial, venous, lymphatic, skin, connective
tissue, cerebro-spinal, tubular, organic, conscious, sub-conscious,
and, last, "The Composite Man." It is a fine and interesting
work on anatomy, of interest to all.
The American Illustrated Medical Dictionary. For Practi-
tioners and Students. A Complete Dictionary of the Terms
used in Medicine, Surgery, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Chemistry,
and the kindred branches, including much collateral informa-
tion of an encyclopaedic character, together with new and elabo-
rate tables of arteries, muscles, nerves, veins, etc.; of bacilli,
bacteria, micrococci, streptococci; emponymic tables of diseases,
operations, signs and symptoms, stains tests, methods of treat-
ments, etc., etc. By W. A. Newman Dorland, A. M., M. D.,
editor of the " American Pocket Medical Dictionary." Second
edition. Revised. Handsome large octavo, nearly 800 pages,
bound in full flexible leather. Philadelphia and London : W.
B. Saunders & Company, 1901. Price, $4.50 net.
A large first edition of the work was issued in October, 1900.
From the day of its publication the book met with a remarkably
large sale, and the edition was exhausted in eight months. This
immediate success is doubtless due to certain special features which
distinguish this work from other books of its kind. The avowed
object of the author has been to furnish in a volume of convenient
size an up-to-date dictionary, sufficiently full for the requirements
of all classes of medical men, or, in other words, to give a maxi-
mum of matter in a minimum of space and at the lowest possible
cost. This object has been secured by the use of a large page,
thin bible paper, and a flexible leather binding. The result is a
truly luxurious specimen of bookmaking.
Book Notices. 521
Warwick of the Knobs. A story of Stringtown county, Ken-
tucky. By John Uri Lloyd. Illustrated. 305 pages. $1.50.
Dodd, Mead & Company. New York.
Another interesting story of the peculiar Kentucky race with
whom we made acquaintance in " Stringtown on the Pike." This
second story is, we think, an improvement on the first, and the
photographic illustrations are very good. But won't Professor
Lloyd give in a third story the lighter vein of these interesting
people ?
The Pathology and Treatment of Sexual Impotence. By
Victor G. Yecki, M. D. Third edition, revised and enlarged.
121110. 329 pages. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders
& Company, 1901. Cloth, S2. 00 net.
The reading part of the medical profession of America and
England has passed judgment on this monograph. The whole
subject of sexual impotence and its treatment is discussed by the
author in an exhaustive and thoroughly scientific manner. The
former edition was exhausted in less than two years. In this
edition the book has been thoroughly revised, and new matter
has been added, especially to the portion dealing with treatment.
Although no one denies that the sexual function is of the very
greatest consequence to the individual as well as to society in
general, yet the subject of impotence has but seldom been treated
in this country in the truly scientific spirit that its pre-eminent
importance deserves, and this volume will come to many as a
revelation of the possibilities of therapeutics in this important
field. The author ventures to assert that in many cases it is a
better deed to restore an impotent man the power so precious to
every individual than to save a dangerously sick person from
death, for in many cases death is preferable to impotence.
It is a well- written, scientific work, and can be recommended
as as cholarly treatise on its subject.
Practice of Medicine, Containing the Homoeopathic Treatment
of Disease. By Pierre Jouset, M. D. Translated, with additions
and annotations, by John Arschagouni, M. D. n 15 pages.
Cloth, $7.00; Half Morocco, S8.00. Xew York: A. L. Chat-
terton, 1901.
522 Book Notices.
This fine work gives us in translation the leading French book
on Homoeopathic Practice, brought up-to-date. It is a good
Homoeopathic work.
The Principles of Hygiene. A Practical Manual for Students,
Physicians, and Health Officers. By D. H. Bergey, A. M., M.
D., First Assistant, Laboratory of Hygiene. University of
Pennsylvania. Octavo volume of 495 pages, illustrated. Phila-
delphia and London: W. B. Saunders & Company, 1901. Cloth,
$3.00 net.
This book is intended to meet the needs of students of medicine
in the acquirement of a knowledge of those principles upon which
modern hygienic practices are based, and to aid physicians and
health officers in familiarzing themselves with the advances made
in hygiene and sanitation in recent years. The book is based on
the most recent discoveries, and represents the practical advances
made in the science of hygiene up-to-date.
Among the important subjects considered are ventilation, heat-
ing, water and water supplies, disposal of sewage and garbage,
food and diet, exercise, clothing, personal hygiene, industrial
hygiene, school hygiene, military and naval hygiene, habitations,
vital statistics, disinfection, quarantine, etc. The idea of the book
is to give the reader a clear understanding of the general princi-
ples of this broad subject. The rapid strides made in our knowl-
edge of the entire subject has rendered such a book, reflecting the
more recent discoveries, a necessity to physicians and students ot
medicine.
Mr. W. B. Saunders, the enterprising Philadelphia medical
publisher, announces that he has made arrangements for the early
publication of Nothnagel's Encyclopedia of Medicine, edited by
Alfred Stengel, M. D., of the University of Pennsylvania. Five
or six volumes will be issued in one year, and the remaining vol-
umes soon after. The entire series may be subscribed for, but
any single volume or any number of volumes ma}' be obtained by
those who do not desire the complete series.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM.
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
EDITORIAL BREVITIES.
"The City of Desperate Hope." — In this number of the
Recorder will be found a letter from Mr. Hurndall taking S. A.
J. to task for calling Dr. Burnett's New Cure for Consumption
11 sorry stuff." That remark applies only to that particular book
and not to the man and his other work, for S. A. J. is in print
with enthusiastic appreciation of some other of Burnett's writing.
As to the real value of the above-named book there are two
radically different opinions extant. The Recorder believes in
the value of the book — but the Recorder may be wrong. The
right way to determine the matter is for each physician to investi-
gate for himself.
Nothing New Under the Sun. — American Medicine says:
11 The abstractor and reviewer is constantly reminded that there
is nothing very new in medical literature. Article after article
may be sifted and reviewed without the discovery of one new or
valuable thought." That is what the preacher said in effect, but
let the wise ones recall the fact that only the few know every-
thing.
Ringworm. — If a persistent case of ringworm presents itself
give it Bacillinum. See Burnett's Ringworm^ Its Constitutional
Nature and Cure. An intercurrent dose of this remedy (homoeo-
pathic Bacillinum and Tuberculinum are identical") will often work
constitutional wonders.
Pulsatilla Brunette. — Dr. C. E. Fisher tells in the Ameri-
can Homteopathist of how for years he refrained from giving Pulsa-
tilla where the " fair hair, blue eyes," etc.. characteristics were
524 Editorial.
absent. Finally, however, he had a case of a most pronounced
brunette, who had Pulsatilla symptoms, and the remedy acted
like a charm.
Bacilunum or Tuberculixum. —Burnett, for reasons stated in
his New Cure for Consumption, gave the remedy the name Bacil-
linum. Dr. Mail, whose cases treated with Tuberculinum have
attracted some attention lately, uses precisely the same remedy,
though under another name. Bacillinum and Tuberculinum are
the same, barring, of course, the Tuberculin of Koch.
Variounum. — Dr. H. M. Bishop, of Los Angeles, California,
has a paper in the September Pacific Coast Journal of Homoe-
opathy strongly advocating the use of J ^ariolinum, both in the pre-
vention and treatment of small-pox.
An Old-Time War Hoop. — The Indiana Medical Journal ex-
ultingly quoted by the Cleveland Journal of Medicine, in an editorial
"marked by its keenness of insight and precision of sarcasm,"
waxes merry over the demise of the Journal of Orificial Surgery,
which ' ' during the nine years of its existence has added much to
the gaiety of medical literature. ' ' This is coupled with Homoeopathy
and " Primarily, Homoeopathy was a mild system of medical delu-
sion, based on expectancy; it is not what it was, and its disciples do
not know what it is." Oh! yes, they do, dear boy? They know
it is the Therapeutic Law of Nature, and no one can be a thor-
oughly scientific physician until he adds it to his medical education.
Mosouitos axd Yellow Fever. — Dr. Jos. Waldaner, of
Shreveport, La., in a letter to American Medici?ie, does not have
much faith in the mosquito as a carrier of yellow fever. He has
seen many cases, every one of which could be traced to contact
with infected clothing or to being where the disease was, but it
did not spread beyond quarantine lines even though "the mos-
quito was there in all her glory."
" Vesicaria Communis." — A firm of English pharmacists
writes that they made inquiry of the leading firms of Germany, for
"Vesicaria Communis," but none of them had ever heard of it,
and there was no such plant known to botany, even though the
" mother tincture is imported from Germany." Stigmata maydis
is the drug advertised as " Vesicaria Communis."
Room for Homoeopathic Doctors. — The Homoeopathic Eye,
Ear and Throat Journal says there is a large demand for homoeo-
Editorial. 525
pathic physicians all over the country. " Not, perhaps, those
who merely call themselves homoeopaths, and practice but scant
Homoeopathy, but for men who are well grounded in the faith and
who leave their colleges with an amount of confidence in the
scientific truths of Homoeopathy sufficient to enable them to apply
it carefully to the cases they meet in practice and the courage to
stand up fearlessly for the faith that is in them. Men of this
stamp always do and will command the respect of those in the
localities where they reside, and are sure of a good income in
time."
Removal. — The Rio Chemical Company has deserted St.
Louis for Xew York, Xo. 56 Thomas street. Incidentally they
have issued a very handsome work of advertising art — colored re-
productions of famous medical pictures, fourteen in one cover
9x12 inches.
Rataxhia — Monatsblatter tells of a gentleman who for
months suffered from violent pain in the anus with burning and
tenesmus hours after each stool. Examination, a long fissure, and
Ratanhia 2, internally, with no external treatment, completely
cured the cases.
Nebraska Medical Law. — The. Lincoln Medical Outlook gives
the following pointer about the medical laws of that State worth
noting, namely, that " while the present law demands a diploma
from a four years' college in go 3d standing it refers only to gradu-
ates of such colleges since the law became in force, as is right
and proper, and does not apply to graduates of three years and
two years' attendance who fully complied with the law at the time
of their graduation. A two term doctor can receive his certificate
with same honor ?sa four termer."
Collixsoxia. — Dr. S. R. Schultz, in Eclectic Review, says that
11 Collinsonia is a specific remedy for haemorrhoids. A recent case
can be cured between three days and one week. The worst and
most obstinate cases can be relieved and permanently benefited by
Collinsonia" Also, ; ' when piles are operated upon this remedy
may be given before and after the operation with most excellent
advantage."
Boric Acid Symptoms. — Dr. J. F. Rinehart, in Therapeutic
Gazette, relates two cases where Boric acid produced marked effects.
One was a case of gonorrhoea, where five-grain doses internally
526 Editorial.
and washing out the bladder with saturated solution produced a
feeling of extreme weakness and caused eruptions like hives.
The second case was one in which a stone had been removed from
the bladder by the supra-pubic route; five-grain doses of the Boric
acid was given every four hours and the bladder was daily washed
with a saturated solution. In ten days this caused an erythema-
tous rash around the cut, which gradually spread over the body;
later it was covered "with scales and crusts, the skin being
thickened and infiltrated as in eczema." The Boric acid was dis-
continued and the eruption slowly disappeared, tl as did also the
presence of albumin in the urine, which came with the appear-
ance of the rash." After the eruption had entirely faded the
drug was resumed, followed in two days by the reappearance of
the rash. Isn't this a homoeopathic pointer for its use in eczema
and other skin eruptions ?
Urea in the Treatment of Tuberculosis. — Guided by the
fact that the gouty are immune to tubercle, Dr. Heaper (Lancet)
undertook the treatment of some apparently hopeless cases of
tuberculosis with Urea with marked success. Seven cases are
given in which lupus, enlarged glands, tuberculous joints, ab-
scesses, etc., were removed or healed and patients greatly im-
proved. The dose was 30 grains t. d. s. (three times a day ?
t. d. s. not in dictionaries). Whether under the ix trituration
the drug would be more efficacious is to be determined. Urea
was used as early as 1845 for similar conditions and with success.
Koch, Cows and Consumption. — This from American Fawner
via Keelef s Clinic : " What a plight this puts our health authori-
ties in! Those of many sections have been striving with each
other as to which could display the most pernicious activity in
the way of slaughtering suspected dairy cows, by which, in many
cases, the richest blood of heredity in pure-bred herds was forever
lost, though it had cost lifetimes and fortunes to obtain. And all
for nothing, but a fad. We recall with sorrow when this practice
prevailed in this city so generally three and a half years ago. And
at this time there was but one physician in this city (Dr. W. B.
Clarke), who raised his voice against the slaughter, and on the
ground of its entirely unnecessary and unproved character. This
he did in his society of physicians in a paper on the subject; also
in an article in the Nezvs, and American Farmer."
Gonorrhin-Medorrhin. — An Asian subscriber asks if these
Editorial. 527
two nosodes are the same. They are identical; in high potencies,
and infrequent doses — once a week — are said to be very useful
where there is a gonorrhoeal ancestry or where the disease has
assumed a chronic form.
Why They Live. — In rambling through a rather extensive ex-
change list one comes across some queer things. For instance,
the following review of Dr. S. O. L. Potter's Hand-book of Materia
Medico, Pharmacy and Therapeidics, eighth edition, found in the
Cleveland Medical Gazette :
One of the most popular, extensive and trustworthy works of its character
in any language. It merits the high esteem and confidence, both of the
student and busy practitioner, which it has held from the earlier editions.
The present volume shows careful and extended labor, devoted to the rewrit-
ing of chapters on some of the more important drugs; in doing which the
author seems to have consulted many of the original articles pertaining
thereto.
All in all, we know of no work which we would as willingly recommend
to the physician desiring to acquaint himself with the theory and practice of
the application of medicaments. Clearly expounded, but not too extensive,
with no injury to its lucidity, principally because of the writer's happy style
of presentation.
Dr. Potter is entered in Polk's Register as a graduate of the
11 Horn. Med. Coll., St. Louis, Mo., 1878." If we remembar cor-
rectly, a certain English medical work on the same subject and
equally popular is very largely based on his work. Both live by
virtue of the Homoeopathy in them — yet there are better Homoeo
pathic works extant.
Malaria and Mosquitos. — "David Harris, former health
officer on the diamond fields, South Africa, writes the Lancet that
he practiced in that region in the early 'eighties.' when malaria
was very prevalent there, and he avers the entire absence of mos-
quitos. The population numbered about 70,000. With the
extension of the railway from Cape Town two or three years later
came the first instalment of mosquitos. But malaria steadily de-
creased in his own very large practice and elsewhere in general."
— A m erica n Medicin e .
Practical Medicine. — At the last moment of Recorder
make up comes from bindery Dr. Lawrence's elegant work Prac-
tical Medicine. The price is $3.00; by mail, $3.25.
PERSONALS.
" Don't worry about anything you don't want."
Dr. T. L. Bradford, 1862 Frankford Road, Philadelphia, Pa., wants some
one to give him, or sell him, a copy of the North American Journal of
Homoeopathy for February, 1882.
Dr. Henry C. Aldrich has been elected President of the American Associa-
tion of Orificial Surgeons.
One of our scholarly contemporaries writes of "a very complimentary
obituary."
According to Dr. II. M. Logan 4,772 billions of microbes will weigh 7,500
tons.
Pat asserts that the man doesn't live who is able to take "one pill three
times a day."
When at work a fisherman prefers a bite to a square meal.
Yes, Mary, knights prevailed in the dark ages.
Never forget Ratanhia in pruritus ani.
The worst imp is a collar button on racket.
Antimonium sulph. aur. ix, "golden sulphur," according to Mossa, is
almost a specific for the coughs when the patient is "sore all over" —
winter coughs. 2x would probably be better.
Silence is golden, but a gold that we, as a rule, prefer others to enjoy.
Good old homoeopathic Calendula is the best all-round antiseptic, and the
best healer of all bleeding wounds or cuts.
Man preferreth a broad sermon to a long one.
It is said that Sanguinaria nit. will stop a tickling cough oftener than
an}T other remedy.
Truth is mighty, but a lie will kick up a rumpus quicker.
Try Castanea vesca <> in intractable whooping cough.
When a man says that " Rome was not built in a day " we feel sad at his
truthfulness.
A camparison in any, particular or general, shows that President-elect
James C. Wood's Gynecology surpasses any other similar work, and no
" school " barred in the comparison.
When a man says he is "troubled " with any disease he can truthfully be
told that most people are who have it.
Don't forget Ferrum pic. 3X in very warty cases; it has cleared many dis-
gustingly warty hands.
The seats of the mighty will wear through in time.
President Norton's Ophthalmic Diseases easily carries the banner.
One way to make both ends meet is to dine on ox-tail soup and boiled
tongue.
In the eruptive stage Tartar emetic is the best remedy internally to pre-
vent pitting in small-pox.
When we learn to cease climbing hills until we arrive at them we have
solved the problem of contentment.
For an awfully raw, mottled, sore throat think of Hotnarus. See Allen's
Hand-book of Homoeopathic Materia Medica.
Lastly. Subscribe for the Homoeopathic RECORDER.
THE
HOMCEOPATHIC RECORDER.
Vol. XVI. Lancaster Pa., December 1901. Nc 12
PREVENTION MORE LOGICAL THAN CURE IN
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE.*
By John W. Hodge, M. D.. of Niagara Falls.
The conception that the maladies which afflict mankind and
which have received the name of diseases can be prevented is of
modern times, — I may say practically of the century that has just
passed, the last few decades of which have been marked by very
great activity in the development of sanitary science and pre-
ventive medicine.
The ancient and once world-wide belief that disease is a visita-
tion of special Providence, or that it is due to the vengeance of
offended Deity, although generally abandoned as regards indi-
vidual cases or limited localities, still lingers in the minds of some
superstitious people with regard to great epidemics, which are
thought to be either inevitable, or at least only to be averted by
prayer and fasting.
To the intelligent student of medicine, however, causes and
effects do not thus seem to belong to totally different classes, for,
although he will admit that there is a close relationship between
vice and disease, yet he will consider their influence as reciprocal,
and that in many cases the}' are only different names for the same
thing.
' ' The crude idea which came down almost to us who now live
was that diseases of every kind were a portion of the necessary
suffering which might by some art, conjuration or divination be
removed, but which could not be avoided or prevented. For this
""Read by John W. Hodge, M. D., of Niagara Falls, before the autumnal
meeting of the Western New York Homoeopathic Medical Society, held in
Niagara Falls, October 25, 1901.
530 Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine.
reason the so-called curative art, the art of palliating or removing
diseases, took naturally a first place in the course of human prog-
ress. This curative art, brilliant in many of its discoveries, use-
ful in many of its applications, and beneficial alike in discovery
and application, could not, however, be expected forever to re-
main the be-all and. end-all of human endeavor against disease.
It was wonderful while it combated the unknown and the invis-
ible. But in the course of the natural development of knowledge
the unknown and invisible passed away, in so far as belief in them
was concerned, and there was left in the mind, in place of that
belief, the fact that not one of the diseases long thought to be
supernatural and out of the range of inquiry as to causation was
supernatural at all. Each was traceable by the acquirement of
correct knowledge, and when traceable was found to be largely
and effectively preventable by a further extension of the same ac-
quirement. In this manner have originated and developed the
science and art of preventive medicine."
In early times the doctors knew so little about hygiene and paid
so little attention to natural laws that for hundreds and hundreds
of years they would not allow a patient suffering from fever to
partake of a drop of cold water. Doctors in those days said,
' ' Cold water is certain death in fever. Do not give the patient a
drop. Give a dose of calomel and a spoonful of warm water."
Not only were the fever patients denied pure cold water — Nature's
remedy — but sunlight and fresh air were also denied them, and
they were salivated with mercury, physicked with jalap, depleted
of their life-blood by the lancet, and starved until they gave up
the ghost.
In those days it required a very robust constitution to withstand
the heroic assaults of a doctor. Even as late as fifty years ago it
was a very serious matter to fall sick with a fever and have a
doctor. I mean the doctor was the serious part of the business,
for in those days the doctor still declared, " Cold water is death,"
and fathers and mothers were solemnly warned not to give a drop
to the child tossing with a raging fever and vainly pleading like
Dives for "just a drop" to cool the parched tongue. Owing
largely to the advances made in sanitary science, and to the
spread of the therapeutic doctrine of similia, similibus, curenturi
with its small dose, single remedy and brilliant results, the harsh
and drastic modes of treatment which were common half a century
ago have been dropped one after another by the profession, until
Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine. 531
now the instinctive calls of nature are being more and more heeded
by the medical practitioner, and the profession as a whole is daily
approximating nearer and nearer to the constructive art of healing
which takes more cognizance of sanitation and hygienic living
and far less account of drugs and poisons. Calomel and blood-
letting have had their day and the good will of the Old School
doctors, and during that terrible day the sick room was a torture
chamber, a gloomy and dreadful place, and the doctor's visit the
most dreadful part of the composite calamity. But times have
changed. The lancet is rusting away. The healing sunshine and
the pure, fresh air which in those days were sedulously excluded
from the sick room are now freely admitted. The pure, cold
water which was looked upon as a messenger of death is now
plentifully supplied to the sick as one of Nature's most logical
remedies for the cure of disease and the restoration of health. The
precept couched in the words of the maxim, " An ounce of pre-
vention is better than a pound of cure," is particularly applicable
to the practice of medicine. The physician who is happily able
to prescribe the ounce of prevention can dispense with the pound
of cure.
The physician who studies from a hygienic standpoint the cases
of those who entrust themselves to his care, and gives judicious
advice regarding the regulation of diet, clothing, exercise, condi-
tion of dwelling and habits of life, performs his duty with far
greater fidelity to his profession and with more benefit to his
patients than he who places his chief reliance on the exhibition of
drugs and medicines for the restoration of health. I believe that
it is fair to presume that if physicians generally were to devote
more time to the discovery and removal of the causes of disease,
and less effort to the study of symptomatology and materia
medica, much more good might be accomplished.
The legitimate function of the modern physician, it seems to
me, consists not so much in curing diseases as in curing their
■causes. He should strive to trace diseases back to their origin,
and so far as he is able to seek the conditions out of which they
spring. He should endeavor, further, to investigate the con-
tributing conditions, and ascertain how far they are removable,
and how far they are avoidable. The success of his efforts in
combating disease will turn on the success with which he is able
to carry out this analytical and practical design. Unless he is
able to detect and remove their causes, he cannot logically hope
532 Cure in the Philosophy of Medicijie.
to cure diseases, cito, tuto, et jucunde, by the administration of
drugs however skilfully prescribed.
To what extent the prevention of disease, the prolongation of
life, and the improvement of the physical, mental and moral
powers of mankind may be carried in the future it is impossible
at the present time to state. No doubt the tendency of those who
write and speak on this subject is to be unduly optimistic. It
does not seem probable that the conditions of perfect personal and
public health are attainable except in rare and isolated cases, and
for comparatively short periods of time. Yet it appears highly
probable that the present average length of human life may be
much extended and its physicial powers greatly augmented.
It is clearly obvious to the scientific sanitarian that in every
year within this commonwealth thousands of valuable lives are
lost which might have been saved; that tens of thousands of cases
of sickness occur that might have been prevented; that a vast
amount of unnecessarily impaired health, physical debility, and
suffering exists which might have been avoided; that these pre-
ventable evils require an enormous expenditure of money, and
impose upon the people innumerable and unmeasurable calamities,
social, physical, mental and moral, which might have been averted;,
that means within our reach exist for their mitigation or removal,
and that the timely application of appropriate measures for the pre-
vention of disease is destined to accomplish far more in the future
than all the drugs administered for the cure of disease. Hundreds
of deaths from typhoid fever have occurred in this city and the
Tonawandas. These deaths are attributable largely to the pollu-
tion of the waters of Niagara River by Buffalo sewage. It is a
sad commentary on our modern civilization that man is his own
worst enemy, that human interests, instead of being mutually
helpful, morally up-lifting, and productive of real brotherhood,
are largely destructive and antagonistic to health and happiness.
The corner-stone of modern society is self interest, and in its
service we do not identify our neighbor's interest with our own,
but rather sacrifice our neighbor's life that our own selfish in-
terests may better thrive. It is apparent to the scientific hygienist
that preventive medicine is destined to become the medicine of the
future. At the present, however, we have to deal with the facts
before us, viz., that there are a great many diseases actually ex-
istent which must form the subject of investigation. While the
business of the physician is, therefore, to a large extent, the care
Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine. 533
of the sick with reference to the cure of disease, or where that is
beyond his power, as is too frequently the case, to relieve suffer-
ing and secure temporary ease for his patient, he is nevertheless
especially called upon to ascertain, so far as lies within his power,
to discover the causes of disease and the best means of obviating
or destroying these causes. It is, therefore, obvious that the
science of preventive medicine is necessarily and intimately related
to the art of so-called curative medicine. Conceding that the study
of prevention and cure should proceed conjointly, it is obvious
that he is the most perfect sanitarian and he is the most accom-
plished and useful physician who knows most of the prevention of
disease, as well as of the nature and correct remedial treatment
thereof.
The foregoing assertions in reference to the great importance
of prevention in medical practice may appear somewhat dogmatic;
still I believe that they will receive the assent of every physician
who has carefully studied the subjects of hygiene and sanitation,
and made himself familiar with what has recently been accom-
plished along this line of work in certain limited localities. It is
a usual estimate among sanitarians that by the adoption of proper
modes of life on the part of both individuals and communities,
nearly one-half of all existing diseases are preventable or avoid-
able, and might be abolished by the judicious exercise of appro-
priate sanitary measures. There are logical reasons for believing
that the present mortality rate might be greatly reduced by a more
rigid adherence to the general rules of hygiene and less frequent
recourse to the use of poisonous drugs.
The saddest pages in the history of all nations are those that
record the wholesale sacrifice of human life through ignorance or
neglect of the simplest means of preserving health and averting
disease. It is no disparagement to the art of healing to state that
more human lives have been sacrificed by neglect of the simplest
means of conserving health than could have been saved by the most
skilful medical and surgical treatment. I deem it of the very first
importance, therefore, that the physician when called upon for
advice should be able to recommend with confidence the measures
to be adopted to preserve the health of men, women and children.
In a large number of the cases that come under the care of the
medical practitioner, it is desirable that he pay special attention
to those circumstances which affect the general health of the
patient, and to give directions for his guidance in matters that
534 Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine.
pertain rather to the province of hygiene than to the practice of
physic. Indeed, it very often happens that the only remedial
measure which the competent physician feels called upon to pre-
scribe consists of a change from bad to good habits of life, from
an unhealthy residence or locality to a healthy one, from intense
application to study or business, to repose of mind and complete
change of scene and occupation. In a certain class of cases,
change of climate is the logical remedy, and is of more value to
the patient than all the drugs mentioned in the Materia Medica.
A locality suited to the particular disease or state of health of the
patient has to be chosen.
By such hygienic regulations of the habits and residences of
their patients physicians are performing their duties by saving
many valuable lives which could not be saved by the most skilful
exhibition of drugs.
One of the best illustrations of the extent to which ignorance
and carelessness nullify the utility of methods for the prevention
of disease is found in the fact that small-pox still continues to ap-
pear here and there as local epidemics, and sometimes with great
mortality. If anything is definitely known in preventive medi-
cine it is that this loathsome malady is a filth-disease. Small-pox
is a member of the group of diseases described as zymotic, which
thrive only in unwholesome conditions of life, and in common are
diminished or prevented by the reduction or removal of these con-
ditions. Long before the time of inoculation and vaccination we
find this disease to have been identical in every respect with that
of to-day. Small-pox appeared at sundry distant periods, some-
times not returning during an entire century, and was at certain
times virulent and at other times mild. From historical records
we learn that, "into whatever country it penetrated, amongst
whatever people it found a home, and wherever its ravages
decimated the population, the conditions which favored its develop-
ment and its diffusion were one and the same. It had its strong-
hold in filth and claimed its victims where uncleanliness and un-
tidiness dwelt under the same roof. Ignorance and superstition
have caused man to view this pestilence as a thing of super-
natural origin and a punishment for national sins, whereas it is
too true that small-pox and cholera, like the plagues of centuries
past, owe their existence to the unhealthy conditions by which
we are surrounded, and to the irregular and unsanitary lives
which characterize large numbers of people." Until scientific
Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine. 535
sanitation began to engage the attention of state and municipal
authorities, the plague returned as punctually to the cities of
Europe as small-pox did during the last century. At present the
percentage of fatality, not only in small-pox, but in all zymotic
diseases, is steadily declining as sanitation becomes more rigidly
enforced in crowded districts, in spite of the ill effects of vaccina-
tion and other reactionary devices which the doctors from time to
time, aided by unjust legislation, have inflicted upon mankind.
Isolation and sanitation have robbed small-pox of all its terrors.
In combating the ravages of this pestilence it must be admitted
by all who have carefully studied the subject that the preventive
art of medicine (hygienics) has accomplished infinitely more than
the remedial. Cleanliness is the great scientific protection against
diseases, and especially against the contagion and infection of zy-
motic or filth diseases. All other so-called prophylactics or pro-
tectives of a medicinal nature are viewed by the practical sanitar-
ian as empirical, unreliable and worthless subterfuges. "Pure
air, pure water — internally and externally — plain, wholesome
food, temperate habits of life, and plenty of exercise in the open
air are Nature's health-producing, disease-repelling agents."
As regards so-called practical hygiene, i. e., the prevention of
disease, it is evident that we may try to attain this in two very
different ways, since we may either attempt to avoid or remove
the causes of disease or to render the body less susceptible to the
action of these causes.
Attention to diet, exercise, clothing, place of residence and
habits of life is a well-known safeguard against disease. It is
obvious that hygiene is a subject of scientific interest, not only to
the student and to the medical man, but also to the political
economist, the legislator, and to the people generally. Its dis-
coveries ought, therefore, to be of great practical importance to
all.
But when we examine the amount of knowledge as to the causes
of disease which is actually possessed by the majority of fairly
well-informed and intelligent people, and note how much of it is
mere vague conjecture, untested theory, and baseless assumption,
and withal how hopelessly unconscious these people are of their
own ignorance of the subject, and how promptly and confidently
they will undertake to advise what should or should not be done
to prevent disease, we cannot wonder that the public at large is
confused at the very contradictorv assertions made to it, and con-
536 Cure in the Philosophy of Medicine.
sequently hesitates as to what should or what cau be done to pre-
vent disease. The truly scientific sanitarian will promptly admit
that his knowledge is scanty and defective, that he cannot assert
that the measures he proposes are the best possible measures; but
only that they are the best that he can at present devise, and that
in the present rapid progress in sanitary science and its applica-
tion for the benefit of mankind it may be that within a few years,
at farthest, some better means may be devised for the attainment
of the results desired. Imperfect as is our knowledge of the
aetiology of disease and the prevention thereof, it is nevertheless
far in advance of the popular practice, because the meaus of pre-
vention cannot be had for nothing.
The greatest obstacle the physician encounters in the practice
of preventive medicine is the fact that the mass of mankind is
unwilling to sacrifice present comfort for possible future benefit.
Sanitary measures, to be most effective, should be carried out at
those times when laymen see no special cause for anxiety, and
often, therefore, appear to involve unnecessary worry and ex-
pense. When such measures are most successful their value may
be least appreciated. If the expected disease does not appear, the
physician's warnings are considered to have been a false alarm,
and the precautions taken to have been excessive if not unneces-
sary.
The relatives and friends of the typhoid fever patient who will
not fail to gratefully remember the care and assiduity with which
a physician may have treated the patient would no doubt have
thought the same physician obtrusive and troublesome had he
taken one-half the same trouble to see that the cause of the fever
was avoided.
That the labor required in the pursuit of personal sanitary
measures often becomes in itself a source of pleasure — as, for
instance, in the preservation of personal cleanliness by ablution —
and that the expense incurred in most cases is the best possible
investment of capital is not and cannot be appreciated by the
masses. It is, nevertheless, an encouraging sign of the times
that in the work of the sanitarian the general public is growing
every day more and more interested, and more in sympathy with
the movement to prevent disease and prolong life.
Present Responsibilities for Fultire Citizenship. 537
PRESENT RESPONSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE
CITIZENSHIP.
By Edwin R. Mclntyre, B. S., M. D., Professor of Ner-
vous and Mental Diseases in the Dunham Medical
College of Chicago.
E.ead before The Missouri Valley Homoeopathic Medical Society, at Omaha,
Neb., October 24, 1901.
In these latter days one hears much of our progress. And this
is no vain boasting. In no period of the world's history has such
marvelous progress been made. But while this is true as regards
many particulars, are we not drifting rather than progressing in
others ? And whither are we drifting ?
Probably at no time in our history have these questions been so
forcibly brought to the front as during the past few weeks. And
it may not be entirely unprofitable to pause and consider briefly
the possible, if not the probable, tendencies of society at the present
time.
History repeats itself, and the downfall of nations has ever been
the result of the corruption of the citizen rather than of real or
fancied differences between classes or conditions of men.
This may seem a peculiar topic to bring before a convention of
medical men ; but I am persuaded that medical men, above all
others, should be interested. We are living in the present, but in
a sense, at least, we are living for the future. Men say they fain
would have lived in the times of the ancient philosophers, and sat
at the feet of Plato and Archimedes, of Socrates and Confucius.
They bewail the absence of such giant intellects at the present
time. But the fact is they are only scarce because so common.
Plato was a great philosopher ; but we are told that he became
much displeased with his friend, Archytas, because he constructed
useful instruments on mathematical principles ; and that Archi-
medes apologized for a supposed perversion of the same science in
constructing inventions that became the wonder and admiration of
succeeding generations.
The Athenian philosophers taught the use of mathematics for
the developement of the mind alone ; but thought it wrong to
apply it to useful inventions for the purpose of lightening the
burdens of life, or lifting them from the stooping shoulders of the
538 Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship.
world's weary workers. They also taught that medical science,,
such as they had, should not be applied in easing the pains or pro-
longing the lives of sick and suffering humanity, to the great ad-
vantage of the sick, it ma}7 be, considering what the science of
that time was.
In some respects their civilization may have equaled or even
surpassed our own, as in poetry, philosophy and eloquence. But
the proud boast of our time is the application of all knowledge to
the convenience of humanity and the comfort and happiness of
man. As a result of the activity of our minds, which is the divin-
ity within us, progress has become our watchword, and with it
lessons to teach us how to render our bodies vigorous. Yea, more,
it tells us of something more than a useless aim in life, and warns
us, could we but hear the warning, that in this life we are expected
to be something more than a mere empty echo.
But in our attempts to accomplish something for the happiness
of man we are liable to forget man himself. And if he depart in
the least from what society is pleased to demand of him in morality
and honesty, we join in the frantic wail for his blood, without in-
quiring into the cause of his misdemeanor.
Vituperation is not argument, and personal abuse reforms no one.
Let us indulge in neither. All men have a right to their opinions,
so long as they are ho?iest opinions. But it would be no transgres-
sion of rights were we to inquire into the origin of some men's
opinions. Are they the result of education, environments or pre-
natal conditions ?
For several years we have heard much about legislating men into
equality in life, on the one hand, and letting them fight it out
without law or government, on the other. The one proposition
is as reasonable as the other ; both are but grotesque absurdities,
To be equal financially implies mental and physical equality,
conditions not subject to direct legislation, because they imply
equality in birth and environments. Man is not consulted as to
time, place or environments of his birth ; so he is denied the priv-
ilege of directing his own disposition or mental development. And
it is not the fault of nature if he is not born right, and she should
not be held responsible for the result or expected to supply any
defects.
The student of psychology can scarcely avoid the conclusion
that in a large proportion of the human race there exists some
organic defect in the central organ of the mind which ma}7 remain-
Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship, 539
latent for life under favorable circumstances, or be ignited by some
exciting cause in the body or external to it. These defects are
rarely discoverable by any means now in use, and are only known
to exist by their effects. We are not able to discover, by the
microscope or chemical analysis, the slightest difference between
the brain-cells, if examined at the end of an ardent day's mental
labor or of a quiet night's rest. But who shall say there is no
difference ?
That insanity is increasing from year to year is proven by our
asylum reports. And in keeping pace with the increase in the
number of insane in our institutions is the steady increase in the
number of murders and suicides.
In 1890, there were in this country 2,040 suicides and 4,290
murders; in 1 891, 3,331 suicides and 5,906 murders ; in 1892, 3,860
suicides and 6,704 murders ; in 1893, 4>43^ suicides and 6,615
murders; in 1894, 4,912 suicides and 9,800 murders; in 1895, 5,759
suicides and 10,500 murders.
These figures are the latest now at my command, and are cer-
tainly startling in their revelations. We cannot attribute these
conditions entirely to faulty economic conditions, because the in-
crease has been about the same each year regardless of changes
in these conditions. Indeed, in 1893, when we were in the midst
of the worst period of financial depression the world has ever
known, there was a decrease of 89 in the number of murders under
the year before, when times were comparatively easy. And the
next year when times were no harder the number increased by
3,i85.
What is the real cause ? Is it in our environments or in us ?
Have the wrongs, if any there were, been to us or in us?
It is a sad but true statement that the average American mother
devotes a large portion of her energies to ways and means of escap-
ing or preventing motherhood. This is particularly true of those
wrho, because of social, physical and financial conditions, are capa-
ble of raising children sound in body and mind. At the same
time those of the lower classes of foreigners, living in squalor,
filth and ignorance, are raising large families. Now and then
some society woman fails in her attempt to prevent conception, or
to check it in its progress, and a child is born. This she gives
the best possible care and training ; only to discover, all too soon,
that it manifests a cruel, selfish and despotic disposition, on which
she looks with horror and amazement. She wonders where it got
540 Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship.
such a violent and uncontrollable temper. This is but the logical
sequence of her own mind before its birth. It is the offspring of
a murderess who was disappointed when it was not destroyed. It
drew its nourishment from a mental desire to take its life, because,
forsooth, it was not fashionable or convenient for a lady to become
a mother. Society, as we see it to-day, is a hothouse in which to
raise murderers.
But this is only a single one of the thousands of factors exert-
ing prenatal influences, resulting in mental and moral degeneracy.
If a child is begotten in crime, by what mode of reasoning shall
we expect it to develop into a saint ? We say this or that child
looks like its father. If this be true is it not reasonable to expect
it to partake of his mental tendencies at the time it was begotten ?
It has been said, " Tell me what a man eats, and I will tell you
what kind of a man he is.'' Rather show me the character of a
man's ancestors and I will tell you what kind of a man he is.
Drunken fathers have begotten idiots, imbeciles and monstrosi-
ties but little removed from the lowest brute. I know a family
of five children, three of which are vegetating idiots, because the
father was drunk when they were begotten. And Bourneville
found in 1,000 cases of idiocy, 620 or 62 per cent. , gave a history of
alcoholism, in 471 on the part of the father, in 81 the mother ;
65 both parents. In 57 of the cases intoxication at the time of
conception was ascertained with certainty.
Crime seems to run in certain families, sometimes the parents
being respected but possibly not known by their neighbors. I
once knew three generations of a family, every member of which
was a thief. Other families raised their children in the same
environments, outside the family, the children attending the same
school, who were honest, many of them being devoted Christians.
True, part of the tendencies of this family were doubtless due to
home education, but only a part. The three great factors in the
formation of character are heredity, environments and education.
Bven in cases of vicious parentage, proper education and environ-
ments have been known to eliminate much of the criminal tenden-
cies ; but rarely or never to entirely eradicate them.
If our institutions are to be perpetuated we must look less to
imaginary wrongs to other races across the seas and more to purity
at home. We must seek less for position and place for self and
more to a posterity free from political or other dishonor. Egotism
must give place to fraternity and true patriotism in the present,
that they may exist in the future.
Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship. 541
Children have a God-given right to be well-born, morally,
mentally and physically. The habitual criminal, either political
or civil, has no right to propagate his kind. We are responsible
for future citizenship.
It has been said that if we could look into the future half a
century, we could find men bending their energies more toward
a good moral and physical inheritance than toward the accumula-
tion of wealth and notoriety for self. But men will change greatly
if ever this happy prophesy is realized. For at present we are
not progressing in that direction. But we are struggling in a pit-
fall of ignorance and fads, attempting to protect society as best
we can by punishing some criminals, destitute of a political pull,
by laws that do not recognize the difference between the wilfully
wicked and he who has inherited an organic defect ; and we make
no effort to improve the man. So we not infrequently punish the
wrong individual, since he cannot, in justice, be held responsible
for the legacy. This must ever be so until by scientific investiga-
tion we learn when and how to punish and when to restrain and
treat, that society may be protected and justice done to all.
It would be no injustice to any one were habitual criminals
rendered incapable of propagating the species. We never can
really know how to deal with these questions, except by long
scientific investigation. Our prisons and asylums are full of
material for such investigations, did our laws but recognize their
importance. v
I would have a committee of medical men, not politicians, in
each State, whose duty should be such investigation, after thor-
ough and prolonged research and investigation, each commit-
tee to report to the State and the State to the General Govern-
ment. Then State and federal laws could be enacted or changed
in accordance with such reports that would protect society, do jus-
tice to all and restrict the present increase of hereditary criminals.
The jail criminal is not the only one who should be investigated,
but that other large class who were not convicted because of
a political or financial pull.
This, to my mind, is the most important possible step toward
perpetuating our institutions. Science is slowly but surely leading
men toward a higher plane of living, and proportionately greater
enjoyments of life. We are gradually learning that to corrode
the body destroys the character of the present and future genera-
tions. Gradually we begin to see that vice and crime are manifes-
542 Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship.
tations of disease, mental or physical. But error is deep-rooted
and must be cut away even if it cause great pain to ancient ideas.
Criminals are not all in prison, many of them being in positions of
trust — and profit — placed there by a deluded people, many of whose
delusions spring from a golden basis composed of a stated quan-
tity of gold per vote. Greed and avarice, too, frequently constitute
the veil that obscures the conscience until it does not look very
black to buy or sell votes for transitory positions in which princi-
ples bring fabulous prices. But, to an outsider, it looks bad when
a poor alderman, who served the city a few years for $150.00 a
year, can pay $15,000 cash for a house in which to live.
Promises are also good vote-getters, but are not always remem-
bered by the successful candidate. So dishonorable have been the
means employed to get a position or place that it is fast becoming
a reproach in the minds of decent people for a man to become a
candidate for office. When honor and truth are thus obscured in
the minds of men, what can we expect of their children ? Are we
politically better or worse than we were half a century ago ? Does
the young man enter politics now with the honor and integrity of
our forefathers ? Or is it not ' ' money instead of the honor ' ' that
gives him a desire to be President ? These questions are of vital
importance to our American Republic. We are responsible for
future citizenship.
Given certain mental tendencies in a man and his wife, and it
is easy to predict the character of their children. Even tempera-
ments are important in shaping the character of the child. Let a
man and woman, both lymphatic, fat, fair and flabby, marry, and
their child will never get beyond thinking he will do something
some time. Or if both be highly nervous, the child will act from
impulse alone, always being able to tell what he might have done
or been. Like temperaments, criminal tendencies or organic de-
fects in the parents are intensified in the child. In most cases
nature looks after this, in that our affections go to our opposites,
else the human race would long since have degenerated into a state
of idiocy or imbecility. Let us, as medical men, consider these
facts, read the signs of the times and profit thereby.
The one trait of human character which is the motive power to
the political world is a desire to elevate self, regardless of the
rights of others. When external circumstances are adverse and
strength of character deficient, men wrap themselves in a mantle
of so-called piety and heave a religious sigh that may deceive the
Present Responsibilities for Future Citizenship. 543
very elect. Nothing has been more distorted or used for baser
purposes than the Bible. Never have blacker crimes been com-
mitted than in the name of religion. Greed and avarice are often
mistaken for Christian charity. Selfishness has become the watch-
word. We open our eyes at birth and close them again after a
brief period we call life, spent in a constant struggle for a bit of
earthly possession, all to end in a home 3x6 feet in some lonely
cemetery, by the world forgotten. But our deeds and life live on
in unborn generations. So we are responsible for future citizen-
ship.
Children have a right to be well-born, mentally, morally and
physically ; and only those who can beget and bear such should
"be permitted to beget or bear any. The farmer looks to the im-
provement of his stock by only permitting the best of his herd to
propagate ; but his children and grandchildren may be mental or
moral monstrosities. They commit crimes, are sent to prison, re-
leased, beget children, commit more crimes and go to prison again;
the children in most cases but a few days behind on the same road.
They are permitted to vote, and have a loud voice in the govern-
ment of the nation, having no more ideas of the dignity and re-
sponsibility of citizenship than the cattle of the field. Is the citizen
of less importance to the country than the horse or cow ? Yet
many of our citizens are so thoroughly saturated with selfishness,
the legacy from their parents, that they stand ever ready to barter
their birthright for a mess of pottage, which is more than it is
worth, their principles for cash or their votes to the highest bidder.
Especially is this true of some in positions where votes bring good
prices. In order to obtain such positions they travel up and down
telling the dear people of fancied wrongs they know do not exist
or never can. This is a class of crime not defined in our penal
code or punishable by any law now in force. But what will their
children be ?
Possibly similar to those of Ada Juenke, who was born in
Berlin, in 1740, of parents who were believed to have been re-
spectable ; but she became dissolute and worthless. Her descend-
ants numbered 844 when Professor Pellmann reported having
traced 709 of them in the records, from youth to death, or their
present abode. Some of the remainder have been lost in the record
and some were still too young to offer useful instruction. Of the
709 so traced, 106 were born out of wedlock, 142 were beggars,
and 64 more lived on charity; 181 of the women led disreputable
544 Some Letters Regarding Vaccination.
lives; 76 were convicted of serious crimes, 10 of them probably
being murderers; 7 certainly were, for they were sentenced and
hanged.
Massachusetts has paid over $1,000,000 during the last century
for prosecuting the descendants of a single criminal. These ex-
amples illustrate the terrible danger which one criminal may inflict
upon society.
1209 Masonic Temple.
SOME LETTERS REGARDING VACCINATION.
Wm. Jefferson Guernsey, M. D.,
4340 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia.
Now that the practice of vaccination has become a debatable
question, it would appear that many physicians have adopted the
convenient theory that "the easiest way to get rid of temptation
is to yield." There is no denying the fact that it requires consid-
erable courage to be aggressive even in the most justifiable cause,
and it is assuredly pleasanter and more profitable to do what the
numerous political Health Boards require, and to pocket the fee
therefor, than to refuse the pecuniary benefit and acquire the rep-
utation of being a "crank" in the bargain. The apparent use-
lessness of this minority opposition is a bete noir to the physician
who is not thoroughly awake to the conscientious side of the ques-
tion. Perhaps it is hardly just to put the subject so strongly, for
there are doubtless medical men " good and true " who, though
not yet convinced of the evils of vaccination, are, nevertheless,
trying to govern their professional lives from a moral standpoint,
and who, if thoroughly satisfied of the inefficiency of vaccination,
of the danger attached to the practice, and of the prophylactic
power of other agents, would at least give their position more
thoughtful consideration.
In 1875 the writer pocketed his diploma during an epidemic of
variola. He had the lack of patients common to the recent grad-
uate; he had a father long in practice who, though not afraid of
any contagious disease (or other duty), had found it inconvenient
to be handicapped by small-pox cases, and who very willingly
turned them all over to the "young doctor." So for several
months many scores of people, old and young, rich and poor,
black and white, were treated by him. He vaccinated, of course.
Every physician did. They didn't know any better.
Some Letters Regarding Vaccination. 545
After a time somebody said that if vaccine matter would protect
against variola a potentization of that substance would act more
thoroughly as a prophylactic; just as a potentized drug is believed
to be more effectual than the crude substance. At that date
"potency" did not mean more to him than the third or sixth
decimal; it was not carried out to what some would call an ex-
treme, but the theory itself that was involved. It came to his at-
tention rather too late in the season to be put to any practical test,
but it made him think with regret of the many vaccinated patients
who had had the small-pox; of the many who might as well have
had it; of those who would doubtless have remained well if the
enthusiastic young vaccinator had let them alone; many who
finally worried his conscience with grave symptoms that might
never have been developed but for his interference with Nature.
It took some time to convince the medical profession that it had
not been a good thing for George Washington to have had phle-
botomy performed three times for tonsillitis; and it required a good
many sore arms and sick bodies and cow-pox patients and failures
to protect to arouse an opposition to the practice of vaccination.
Next came the possibility of evading the compulsory law as ap-
plied to school children, and inoculation with potentized vaccininum
was resorted to. Last summer, however, the Philadelphia School
Board commenced a search for the "mark." The child had to
have a cicatrix, if not on the face from the disease, why then on
the arm or leg from the doctor. Well, the thought of having any
remedial or preventive measure forced upon a legally graduated
physician is bad enough, but when the law goes still further and
declares that one's patients shall not attend a school for which they
are taxed to support without submitting to a practice of doubtful
efficiency and offensive to reason, the imposition becomes more ap-
parent, as does the physician's duty toward the patient whose
health is at stake.
Having gone thus far, but one step remained, which was to
positively refuse to vaccinate " for love or money," especially the
latter, which seems to be the chief incentive. Fearing that this
stage, which had only been arrived at after years of deliberation,
might still be a prejudiced one, the idea of writing a personal letter
to a number of plwsicians who were known to be good prescribers
suggested itself. The list of names was made up of course from
among those who had not expressed themselves on the subject and
it comprised eighteen. At the time no thought was entertained of
546 Some Letters Regarding Vaccination.
publishing the answers, but they are so interesting and instructive
that it seems like neglecting a duty to hide them from those who
might be brought to a study of the question by a perusal of them.
To avoid the appearance of favoritism they have been arranged
in alphabetical order. Two of the number did not reply; one
unjustly suspected publication and objected to it, and his letter
was returned. Of the fifteen herewith submitted, nine have de-
clared themselves as refusing to vaccinate under any circum-
stances; two failed to state their practice, though opposed to it;
three do it under protest, and one ridicules it, but does it. The
opposite side of the question is partially represented by Dr. Dil-
lingham, who, in answer to a second personal letter charging him
with being an exception, replied that Carlisle had said that " the
minority was always right," but the doctor fails to recognize the
fact, that if the subject was applied to the entire profession that his
position would be reversed. Our old and much respected friend,
Nash, writes with characteristic bluntness. There is more than a
grain of truth in what he says, but to those who know him best
there is a bigger heart back of his waistcoat than his letter would
seem to indicate. Dr. Carlton does not approve of the use of
nosodes under any circumstance, and his request at the close of
his letter has been respected.
From numerous inquiries it would appear that Malandrinitm is
decidedly the most reliable prophylactic against variola ; that the
30th potency is the best to use ; that a repetition of it is safer than
a single dose. To those directly exposed, or thinking that they
may be, I give twelve doses to be taken once a day for a week,
and then once a week until finished.
The Letters.
B. LeB. Baylies, M. D., 418 Putnam Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Vaccination inflicts a serious disease which in many cases is al-
most malignant, and is sometimes the vehicle of other forms of
disease, e. g., of syphilis and tetanus; and it impairs vitality.
I recognize the credulity of statistics that populous towns and
bodies of troops which have been wholly vaccinated have been
pre-eminently afflicted with small-pox, while other bodies not vac-
cinated have been exempt, as indicating the impotence of crude
vaccination for prevention.
On the other hand, provings made by Dr. Fincke made with
Variolin and Vaccinin indicate a partial similarity of the two dis-
eases, variola and vaccinia.
Some Letters Regarding Vaccination. 547
As a homoeopath, however, I am opposed to crude drugs and
any form of crude virus. I also believe that a healthy body is
best protected from disease; and unless compelled do not admin-
ister drugs in any potency. When compelled to vaccinate by de-
mands of Boards of Health I administer one of the potencies of
Variolin or Vaccinin, usually the former, 9c. to 45m., Fincke, a
powder, and scratch the same into the arm, certifying to the fact
of vaccination. I do not urge any to be vaccinated, even in this
manner; the)7 come to me if conditions necessitate. My patients
usually withdraw their children from the schools rather than have
them poisoned. The virus employed by the public vaccinator,
you know, is simply small-pox modified somewhat by transmission
through the animal. Reynolds's System of Medicine, from which
I have seen extracts, asserts experimental proof that the two
forms are identical, the variola convertible into vaccinia.
Joseph A. Bigler, M. D., 58 South Clinton street, Rochester,
X. Y. I do not favor vaccination and do not practice it, for the
reason that it does not prevent an attack of small-pox. There is
no preventive to that disease, as an attack of that disease does not
prevent a recurrence. I am in favor of adopting Dr. Fincke' s
method of administering Variolin in a potenized form, the 9m.
potency. In this potency there is no danger of infection, as it is
far removed from the substance, and it becomes the similimum to
that disease. The only difficulty is to administer it with the con-
sent of the patient or friends, without which I do not feel dis-
posed to do it. I believe that it is an established fact that vacci-
nation and re vaccination have not prevented small-pox, and I
believe that is established in the experience had in the Franco-
Prussian war when both armies were thoroughly vaccinated and
re-vaccinated. The same experience was obtained in our army in
the Philippines. A case occurred here last winter with one of our
Health Inspectors who was taken to the pest house with, a case of
confluent small-pox several weeks after vaccination.
% ■:- 5js
Clarence Willard Butler, M. D., Montclair, N. J. Vaccination
is the introduction into the human economy of a disease. This
disease is usually, though not always, a very mild one in its prim-
mary manifestation. It is similar to small-pox, that is to say, like
it, but not it. Therefore, in a rough way, it is homoeopathic,
548 Some Letters Regarding Vaccination.
and a priori, we should expect it to act as a prophylactic for that
disease. Somebody has said that there are three great forms of
mendacity — the lie direct, the lie indirect and statistics. The su-
perlative form of the statistical lie is medical statistics. But so
far as they may be believed at all in respect of this matter of vac-
cination, they substantiate the supposition made upon theoretical
grounds, that vaccination is probably a modifier and sometimes
even a preventive of small-pox. If now vaccinia were a simple
disease, brief in its duration and harmless, it would seem wise to
avail oneself of all its prophylactic powers. Again, even though
vaccinia presented some objections and at times produced serious
results, it might still be desirable if the danger thus partially pro-
vided against were sufficiently imminent or sufficiently severe.
The question then, ''Shall I be vaccinated?" practically re-
solves itself into the questions: How considerable an immunity
may I expect from vaccination ? How considerable dangers do I
risk from vaccination ? And how severe and dangerous a disease
am I trying to escape through vaccination ? Let us take these
questions in reverse order. Small-pox is not a very dangerous
disease. If we had no Boards of Health to seize upon the unfor-
tunate victims and thrust them into unfavorable surroundings the
death-rate from small-pox should not be one per cent. The dan-
ger of disfigurement — of pitting — is a good deal larger, and is im-
portant just so far as one may consider their appearance above
their health. In addition to this small-pox is one of those dis-
eases which, when not maltreated, has the power, as have some
others (typhoid fever, for example), of so rejuvenating the system
that, accidents barred, the unfortunate fortunate may look for
long continued healthfulness.
Really the most serious aspect of the question at the present
time is the fact that, still laboring under fears bequeathed to us
from an early and unsanitary age, power is given to local author-
ities to take the small-pox patient from the better influence of his
own home and thrust him into a pest-house, thus insuring the
worst possible condition for recovery, especially the most unfav-
orable "suggestion."
In the brief but emphatic language of one who knows, " It is a
d d inconvenient disease." Now as to the other questions.
It may be frankly stated that the amount of immunity insured by
vaccination is not large at the best, while vaccination itself pro-
duces a disease the exact counterpart of small-pox in its results;
Some Letters Regarding Vaccination. 549
for it. like some of the well recognized diseases which arise invol-
untarily (measles, for example), has the power to arouse all the
dyscrasia, the unhealthy tendencies of the system, and make them
active for harm. Let us then put it this way — shall the man who,
under ordinary circumstances, has not one chance in a hundred
thousand of contracting a disease which is not particularly danger-
ous (though very inconvenient), for the sake of avoiding this re-
mote chance, take steps, the value of which is problematical and
the result of which, in seventy-five per cent, of the cases, is more
or less harmful ? Just answer that question for yourself.
Edmund Carlton, M. D., 62 West 49th St., New York. In my
opinion vaccination affords but slight, if any, protection against
variola, and is liable to cause great mischief. To illustrate, I
heard, from one of his near relatives, the experience of one of our
judges recently deceased. His children were " successfully " vac-
cinated. Presently two of them took small-pox and died. When
the next stringent Health-Board- Public-School- Vaccination order
reached his remaining children he had an interview with the
officials. His children were not re-vaccinated. The relative
alluded to has four sons in the public schools. They have recently
encountered the imperative order to be " successful^7 " vaccinated.
Before their parents realized what was going on one of the four
had been vaccinated with " pure " virus furnished and inserted
by a physician employed by the Board of Health. He was made
sick in consequence, and is now under my professional care.
Then an appeal was made to me to vaccinate the remaining three
that they might have a modicum of safety thereby. . We can-
vassed the situation thoroughly in all its bearings. They could
not afford to take their children from the public schools, and were
not able to undertake the legal fight which I urged. I consented
and vaccinated the children; and my conscience is clear. The
virus was obtained from the Board of Health. All was done
under duress. As soon as the virus " takes" the boys will have
medicine to counteract the mischief as far as possible.
Anticipating your rejoinder, let me say that a certificate that
the person was safe Xsy reason of having taken potentized Vaccin-
inum, Variolinum or Malandrinum wrould not be accepted by the
authorities. Furthermore, I reject utterly the idea that potentiz-
ation changes the nature of the drug. If you have any lingering
notions favoring such a heresy, read Hahnemann's " Defense of
the Organon." I object to vaccine virus and kindred drugs.
550 Some Letters Regarding Vaccination.
Let us hope that this state of siege will not last forever. Sen-
sible aggression by the enemies of vaccination may succeed in
stopping the practice. Deliver us from cranks and quacks!
Meanwhile some ways and means of relief exist. Those who send
their children to private preparatory schools and to college can
avoid vaccination if their backs are stiff enough. Personal exper-
ience has taught me this. Just say that it shall not be and that
swift and severe punishment will come to anyone attempting it.
There will be unpleasantness and victory.
If I or mine get small-pox that one will be isolated upon the
top floor of my house. All necessary sanitary precautions will be
taken. My house is my castle. No one can forcibly enter and
take me to a pest-house. Whoever attempts it will be resisted.
The law gives me that right.
Briefly, as to small-pox itself; the cause of all this trouble. It
is a great mistake to minimize it. The disease is loathsome and
dangerous. Some victims will show disfigurement; occasionally
one will lose his eye-sight; a few will die. But a series of brill-
iant cures will follow strict individualization and the law of cure.
This you well know, of course. To my mind it is necessary to
keep reiterating the truth.
If you print any of the foregoing I enjoin you to print all.
* * *
Brastus E. Case, M. D., Sage- Allen Building, Hartford, Conn.
I stand with you about vaccination. I have administered medi-
cine and had the certificates accepted until last year, when a young
Jew was put in charge of schools, making examinations of the
children, using a tongue depressor from mouth to mouth, cleaning
the instrument, as some say, upon his coat sleeve.
Since my certificates have been rejected I have utterly refused
to vaccinate any one, perhaps unwisely, for it has been at serious
loss to myself in patronage; but as I tell the people I cannot con-
scientiously do what I think prejudicial to health. I have faith
that all will come out right at last.
% %■ %■
Thos. M. Dillingham, M. D., 8 West 49th Street, New York.
I vaccinate all patients who come to be vaccinated, tell them
plainly that they are being poisoned, and that they ought to have
six months' treatment afterward to get their health back.
Most people suffer very little from it, so far as my observation
goes, and some suffer severely and as long as they live.
Some Letters Regarding Vaccination. 551
I ain convinced that vaccination will stop an epidemic in a large
city. Quarantine is so insufficient that vaccination must be re-
sorted to until we can have better regulated and more honest city
government.
A patient came to me last winter from a Boston physician who
was opposed to vaccination, thoroughly broken out with small-pox,
and had to be sent to ' ' the Island ' ' for six weeks.
Our old friend, Samuel Swan, used medical vaccination giving
a high potency. Three of his grandchildren, however, had the
small-pox in spite of the preventive, and turned his house into a
hospital. On the other hand, Dr. Clark, of London, told me this
summer that, after long experience, Vaccine 3d to 6th potency,
is a better preventive than vaccination and never does any harm.
I have not made up my mind whether I shall vaccinate patients
this winter or not. Shall try Clark's low potencies first. So far
as my experience goes the higher potency is no substitute what-
ever for vaccination.
If you can find out my opinion of vaccination by reading this I
congratulate you.
^c s|c %
James T. Kent, M. D., 92 State St., Chicago, 111. I have
looked over the vaccination question pro and con. I have watched
it many years, examined the evidence on all sides I have come
to the conclusion that the evidence in favor of vaccination is ex-
tremely doubtful. On the other side vaccination has done an im-
mense amount of injury to the human race, and to individuals.
It has made many people sick, it has produced grievous ulcers,
and, I have no doubt, mixed up many constitutional complaints.
Taking everything into consideration, I see no grounds upon
which I should favor vaccination. I have for many years refused
to vaccinate; if the patient must be vaccinated he must go some-
where else to have if done; I will not assume the responsibility.
I have used quite a number of remedies for the purpose of protec-
tion at such times as the prevailing of the disease. I have some
evidence in preventing the disease by suitable medicines.
Samuel A. Kimball, M. D., 124 Commonweulth Ave., Boston,
Mass. I am entirely opposed to vaccination and have not vaccin-
ated anybody for fourteen or fifteen years. If patients wish to be
vaccinated I give them Malandrinum. None of these have taken
small-pox, and so it would appear to me just as efficient as vac-
cination, as that is the argument the vaccinationists use.
552 Some Letters Regarding . Vaccination.
E. B. Nash, M. D., Cortland, N. Y. In regard to vaccination
I have no faith in its protective power, and have seen much harm
from it.
I tell my patients so, and if they are willing to have their chil-
dren poisoned, pay for the vaccination, and suffer and pay, too, for
what follows, all right, I vaccinate. It is a good way to get even
with fools and increase business for the doctor.
Edward Rushmore, M. D.. 429 Park Ave., Plainfield, N. J. I
never advise vaccination, but do it when required. I always in-
form of its dangers, while allowing that it affords measureable pro-
tection. I always give a dose of Sulphur four days after vaccin-
ating, and have never seen a bad arm from my vaccinating, such
as I have seen in some cases done by others. To such patients as
do not insist on being vaccinated I give a potency of Vaccininum
to take when liable to exposure as in travelling or shopping.
Compulsory vaccination I regard as a horrible crime and I ad-
vise to resist it wherever possible.
* * *
C. Carlton Smith, M. D., 875 North 20th Street, Philadelphia.
I do not believe in vaccination for the reason that it does not
prevent small-pox. And, second, that it does vastly more harm
than good. To prove my want of faith in it I do not vaccinate
myself nor any member of my family. I make my patients immune
by an internal specific Malandrinum, wThich as far as my personal
knowledge extends is a perfect preventive and absolutely safe. We
must not forget that vaccination came through an ignorant source,
for history tells us that Jenner was not a graduate of any medical
school nor any university. He took some lessons under Jno. S.
Hunter in the way of surgery and left his preceptor to go into the
country to practice that specialty. His whole knowledge of vacci-
nation came from a dairy maid.
5*C Sfc %.
J. W. Thatcher, M. D., 3500 Hamilton Street, Philadelphia.
Vaccination is not protection. Variolation, the internal adminis-
tration of the remedy to cure the susceptibility, is the only rational
exemption from small-pox.
5ji ^ 5JC
Rufus E. Thurston, M. D., 260 Clarendon Street, Boston, Mass.
I regard vaccination as a horrible superstition, based upon ignor-
Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man. 553
ance and commercialism. I refuse in every instance to vaccinate
or to take part in septic inoculation, for to my mind, although
legally authorized, it is a criminal proceeding.
^ %■ ^
W. P. Wesselhceft, M. D., 178 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston,
Mass. I have not vaccinated for ten years and shall never vacci-
nate again. I consider it an awful risk to run and that it is not
prophylactic against the disease. Vide, the horrible repetition of
vaccination in Manila and on the transport ships.
Every man should investigate the subject for himself and not
be too much influenced by so-called "authorities."
I am not only declining to vaccinate, but endeavoring to influ-
ence those who come to me against the operation, and am always
willing to furnish them with literature on the subject.
;|c ■% ■%.
G. W. Winterburn, M. D., 215 Madison Avenue, New York.
I neither believe in nor practice vaccination. My views remain
unchanged, and as expressed sixteen years ago in my book on the
subject published by Boericke & Tafel.
BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS NOT TRANSMISSIBLE
TO MAN.
By Edward Moore.
In the Homoeopathic Recorder for September last, I read an
article on "The Transmission of Bovine Tuberculosis to the
Human Subject," by Dr. Wilbur J. Murphy, and some of the
statements made are worthy of comment.
Dr. Murphy says: " Recently the daily papers have contained
a number of articles on Dr. Koch's reported statement that bovine
tuberculosis was not transmissible to the human subject through
the medium of meat containing the germs of the disease entering
the system as food."
Had this opinion been ventured by one less prominent it would
have been but lightly considered, if at all, but from one so identi-
fied with the study of germ life, and so long a student of the
growth and development of parasitic diseases, his recent article
regarding tuberculosis is one that cannot be passed without con-
sideration, as it is in direct opposition to the general views regard-
ing the spread of tuberculosis.
" Published interviews with prominent and competent medical
men in this country concerning Dr. Koch's recent issue show that
554 Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man,
his views are not in accordance with those held here relative to
the dangers of consumption by means of food affected with tuber-
culosis."
The interviews and the articles that have come to my notice
given by scores of physicians and veterinarians, are based on the
belief that tuberculosis is commonly transmitted from cattle to
man, and that the sole medium of such transmission is meat and
milk, and this belief is not confined to the scores just referred to,
but is held by hundreds of thousands of physicians, biologists and
veterinarians. It seems presumptive, then, to say that such a vast
number of scientific men are wrong, but they are. Among them
are many very bright and able thinkers and indefatigable workers;
then how could it be possible for so many to preach a false doc-
trine, and to lend their names and reputations to such a cause ?
Teaching other thousands of students of medicine the same errors,
and frightening the consumers of meat and milk, and aiding, yes,
demanding legislation to stamp out bovine tuberculosis (a thing
absolutely impossible by any method ever outlined), and causing
within the past ten years a loss of cattle and money amounting to
millions of dollars in the United States alone.
Only one explanation occurs to me, viz.: The blind faith that
the rank and file have in a few of their leaders. It is best exem-
plified by comparison with the veiled prophet of khorassan in
Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh.
Dr. Murphy testified to it inadvertently when he said of Dr.
Koch's statement that bovine tuberculosis was not transmissible
to the human through meat, etc. " Had this opinion been ven-
tured by one less pro?ninent it would have been but slightly con-
sidered, if at all, but from one so identified with the study of
germ life and so long a student of the growth and development
of parasitic diseases his recent article regarding tuberculosis is
one that cannot be passed without consideration."
It is the prominence of the man, not his facts, that our scientific
men worship. Dr. Koch is the same hypnotist who for years bade
his subjects believe that human and bovine tuberculosis was trans-
missible, and they never doubted it. Now he waves his wand
over them and says he has disproved their belief, and straightway
we are advised that the statements of so high an authority cannot
be passed without consideration. Many a man has seen evidence
to discourage his belief in the transmission theory, but dared not
face the jeers and scorn of the majority.
Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man. 555
Several years ago I read a paper before the Albany County
Medical Society on "Bovine Tuberculosis in Its Relation to
Man," and it appeared in the New York Medical Journal, Sep-
tember, 1899. Jn that paper, and in subsequent articles in medi-
cal journals and the Agricultural Press, I discussed the claims
made for the transmission theor}* , showing them to be weak and
inconclusive, and furnished many facts tending to establish the
non-identity of human and bovine tuberculosis. We have been
told by many writers that it is impossible to experiment upon the
human with bacilli from the bovine. Yet I have shown that
thousands of people and children are undergoing " feeding exper-
iments" all the time. I have found plenty of people, from in-
fancy to old age, daily consuming milk from tuberculous cows,
and many of them for years, and I did not discover a single con-
sumptive among them.
If man is infected from the milk he drinks he gets that infec-
tion in a natural way, and not because he is placed under certain
conditions in a laboratory. Therefore there is no better place to
study transmission than at the farms where large numbers of
tuberculous cattle are kept. It is generally conceded that human
tuberculosis is infectious to mankind, and that bovine tuberculo-
sis is infectious to cattle. We have said that hundreds of thou-
sands of medical men believe that the meat and milk of cows
transmit the disease to people who consume those products. The
infection spreads from bovine to bovine much more readily and
quickly than it does from human to human, yet in spite of this
fact tuberculosis in cattle is a disease of the adult. Calves at the
milk drinking age being rarely tuberculous, yearlings but seldom,
two and three-year-olds more commonly so, and aged animals that
have not had a taste of milk since their calf-hood are the ones to
show the highest percentage of infection. At no age do they eat
meat.
It is axiomatic that if milk plays so unimportant a part in the
extension of disease from bovine to bovine its dangers to the
human is not worth a thought. Why did all the doctors lav-
stress on cow's milk as the medium of transmission ? Simply be-
cause they copied one another. They knew better, they knew
long ago that the inhalation of tubercle bacilli was the chief
medium of infection from human to human, and if we could
obtain tuberculosis from the bovine there would be infinitely
more danger from the atmosphere of the infected cow barn than
556 Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man.
from the milk of infected cows but they did not stop to think.
Xocard, Koch, Pasteur, Martin, Crookshank, Sternberg and
others said it was so, and it was so.
Laws were enacted to protect people in cities from infected
milk; no law was ever passed to guard the farmer and his family,
although they were in front of the gun while the city people were
out of range.
When the Special Investigating Committee of the New York
Legislature, appointed by Gov. Roosevelt, began their study of
bovine tuberculosis in 1899, I appeared before them and suc-
ceeded in establishing a grave doubt in their minds as to the truth
of the transmission theory upon which our State Board of Health
had been working for years, and I also advised them that their
greatest duty consisted in a thorough investigation of it and sug-
gested that every witness be examined on this point, and as all
would naturally answer that they believed the disease to be com-
municable to man evidence for such belief should be asked for
and the witnesses be cross-examined to a finish. I predicted that
they would find that where cattle tuberculosis is plenty, human
tuberculosis is so rare as to bear no relation to it; that while you
are in the thick of bovine tuberculosis you are practically outside
the consumptive belt.
They examined over sixty witnesses, more than half of them
experts, and many of these witnesses were men largely responsi-
ble for the tuberculosis scare in this State, and on record as
staunch believers in the transmissibility of the disease, but under
oath they failed to furnish evidence to convince the committee,
and the latter reported to the Legislature of 1900, and upon the
question as to the communicability of tuberculosis from animal to
man, said: "From the evidence taken this committee believes
that tuberculosis is rarely, if ever, communicated from animal to
man."
The fact that Dr. Murphy found some cows tuberculous after
grazing in fields where consumptive people roamed and presum-
ably expectorated proves nothing, and he says, ''The cattle when
purchased were presumably healthy." We are not told that even
up to the time of slaughter they were suspected of being tubercu-
lous. Thousands of tuberculous animals appear healthy, and it
is just as likely that the cows were tuberculous when purchased
as otherwise. Many experiments on animals have been made in
this manner, that is, subjects were used " presumably healthy."
Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man. 557
The large herds of cattle at Saranac Lake, in the Adirondaeks,
that had been subjected to the environment of consumptive people
did not have a tuberculous cow in the entire number. Dr.
Murphy did not tell us whether that abbatoir was thoroughly dis-
infected, etc., after the slaughter of the cows.
Those who will investigate the subject without bias must do as
Dr. Koch has done, change their opinion. I paid tribute to the
genius of Koch two years ago, while I believed him wrong on this
particular subject, and now I thank God there is one man who,
while occupying a most prominent position among scientific men,
is not afraid to announce to the world that he has been wrong for
years. Such a man is indeed scientific, in that he states the facts
as he finds them, no matter what position he finds himself in.
But I may say that we did not need a Koch, we simply required
fair investigation. Milk from healthy cows is preferable to milk
from diseased cows, but if we happen to drink milk from one or
more tuberculous cows we need not give ourselves any concern
about it.
[In connection with the above paper, the following from Albany
Journal may not be without interest. — Editor of Homoeopathic
Recorder.]
It appears after all that Albany and not Berlin is the home of
the man who discovered that bovine tuberculosis is not transmit -
table to man, that Dr. Edward Moore for two years and a half
has been upholding this theory in spite of fierce criticism, and has
won substantial recognition from the State.
When Prof. Koch, of Berlin, the discoverer of the tubercle
bacilli and the inventor of the tuberculin test, announced to the
international congress in London that bovine tuberculosis was not
dangerous to mankind, physicians who had been combating Dr.
Moore's theory found in the German professor's declaration food
for serious consideration, while physicians who had been con-
verted to Dr. Moore's belief have hastened to congratulate him
upon the acquisition of so powerful an ally as the great German
specialist.
Dr. Moore is a graduate of the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons of Great Britain, and a practicing veterinarian of many
years' standing in this city. He has been studying the subject of
bovine tuberculosis for about twenty years, and about two and a
half years ago reached the conclusion that the disease is not com-
municable to the human system. He so declared in a paper read
before the Albany County Medical Society, April 18, 1899.
558 Tuberculosis Not Transmissible to Man.
Dr. Moore is the veterinary editor of the Country Gentleman,
and his subsequent articles on the subject attracted a great deal
of attention among breeders, veterinarians and physicians gen-
erally. During the past two years Dr. Moore has written a great
deal in support of his contention that mankind was in no danger
of contracting tuberculosis from cattle, and there is an abundance
of documentary evidence to prove that to him and not to Prof.
Koch is due the credit of the discovery that is now heralded as
Prof. Koch's.
-.;-. ;<: if. -%.•%.%■%.
It was as the result of these investigations covering a number of
years that he made his declaration before the Albany County
Medical Society in April, 1899, that bovine tuberculosis was not
a menace to human health. His contention was laughed at by
the medical profession generally, but his defense of it, backed by
the facts which he had been collecting, soon won for him respect-
ful attention from some of the foremost doctors of the country.
Some of these accepted his theory outright, while others, while
admitting that he had a very strong case, declined to accept his
evidence as conclusive, in view of the fact that Professor Koch,
the discoverer of the tubercle bacilli, had declared that animal
tuberculosis was dangerous to man. Among the well known
doctors in this State who accepted Dr. Moore's theory were Dr.
George K. Gorham, of this city; Dr. Leo Hartman, of Syracuse;
and Dr. L,. Emmet Holt, of New York City. Dr. S. B. Ward
and Dr. Henry Hun manifested a good deal of interest in Dr.
Moore's researches, but did not commit themselves to the extent
of admitting that he had fully proved his case.
When the legislative committee appointed to investigate the
subject of bovine tuberculosis was sitting in this city in 1899, Dr.
Moore went before that committee, maintained that there was no
danger to human beings from tuberculosis and challenged any one
to produce a case in which man had contracted the disease from
cattle. The findings of the committee were based largely upon
the evidence of Dr. Moore, and the Legislature abolished the
tuberculosis committee of the State Board of Health, so that two
years prior to the announcement of Prof. Koch's discovery the
State of New York had acted upon the precisely similar discovery
of Dr. Edward Moore.
How to Learn Materia Medica. 559
HOW TO LEARN MATERIA MEDICA.
By T. C. Duncan, M. D.
In the study of drugs the physician or student should not have
the attention directed to disease nor its cure. When I entered
the practice of firing according to similia I knew a little of two
drugs, Bryonia and Rhus, also some of Belladonna and Aconite.
Yes, another drug also, Mercury.
How Does Bryonia Act?
Of the first two I learned that one was worse on motion and the
other was better for moving, but which was which I did not know.
Finally it was decided that Bryonia was worse when moving.
That was all I knew of that drug; but it also has better from mo-
tion, and other drugs also have a similar aggravation from motion.
We are told that Bryonia has it most prominently. What is worse
from motion, and why ? That is the natural inquiry. But we are
shifted into another field and told that it relieves patients who are
worse from motion. Quiet cures many a case, so that does not an-
swer. What part of the Bryonia body is made worse by motion,
and why is it made worse? Key-notes are leaders in Materia
Medica, but we must have more stepping-stones. Hundreds of
physicians who learned only key-notes at college found that they
had only the A, B, C, and were without a chart to guide in the
study of Bryonia in any other work, so many fell back upon
works on practice and many never got out of the fog.
Have we any work that tells us that Bryonia produces inflamma-
tion of serous membranes and fibrous tissue, and these are irritated
by motion and compel quiet ?
With this clue the symptoms of Bryonia are tied together and
can be understood. But there comes a time when motion must
be made; the brain is stupefied and motion seems to relieve. But
as the senses awake motion again aggravates.
Where does the Bryonia begin its work and where does it leave
off ? How is the system relieved ? Have we any work that tells ?
Do it by drinking large quantities of water that dilutes the flood,
thereby lessening the amount of post organic matter and the con-
gestion. Are sleep and urination the real avenues of systemic re-
lief?
560 How to Learn Materia Medica.
Where Does Rhus Act ?
Take Rhus. It is easy to learn that it is better by motion, but
the same symptom is found under other drugs, and again the next
step in the study. Why is it better, and where is it better ? Tell
me where they can be found. What part of the body does Rhus
especially affect, and how does relief of the Rhus poisoned body
come?
The acting muscles are relieved by motion. Yes, and why do
the muscles ache? They are sore, and stiff, and tired, we say.
What do we mean ? The back aches, the legs ache, so tired that
the body feels hot; but still it is a relief to move, so Rhus tosses
about even in bed. Now tell us why, and the course the drug
travels to accomplish that end. We know Rhus poisoning begins
at the skin and the muscle-ache comes later. The body is hot
and restless. Why? Where is the most of the ache? In the
back, of course. In the muscles? Yes, and deeper. The legs
are so weak one cannot stand. ''All turn out," is the explana-
tion. What is tire? Is it a spinal hyperaemia that constricts the
motor nerves that go to the legs and other parts of the body ? Is
that the string that ties the Rhus symptoms together ? Is " better
from motion " the latch string that hangs out — the flag of distress
— the guiding symptom? But how does the Rhus body get relief?
Motion causes more muscular waste and more hyperemia. Quiet
sleep, no food and urination are the natural means that bring re-
lief. In what work can we get that sort of clue to the tough skin
of Rhus symptoms — the Rhus pathology ?
Then There Is Aconite.
That produces these key-notes: feverish, restless, apprehension.
Here is another restless drug, but " the fear of death " makes it
differ from Rhus, that is apathetic. Why is Aconite feverish ?
Why the restlessness ? Why the apprehension ? How does it
attack the body to produce these symptoms? In what order do
they appear and how will they disappear ? Can we only learn
from its use in disease? Cannot we find out from the recorded
effects? Does any book tell us? Yes, they say that Aconite
causes a chill first. It must before there can be a fever. Fever
is looked upon as a reaction from a chill. What is a chill ? What
its modus operandi ? That must explain the Aconite key-notes.
Dr. Bradford says Aconite causes " capillary congestion." Cer-
How to Learn Materia Medica. 561
tainly ! But, my dear sir, congestion is a result. Where is the
beginning of the storm centre, which way is it traveling, and how
will it end, and when ? All these are found in its recorded symp-
toms. You strike the key-notes. How does the Aconite music
go ? Where can I learn ? I did not learn at college, did you !
How does Aconite produce such a systemic fright ? What is its
pathology ? Does a chill explain ? Let us see. A chill, a sys-
temic fright, sends the blood away from the spine (See Aconite,
chill up back) and the contracted capillaries sends the blood into
the heart with a rush, then it is again driven into the surface with
such force that the extremities tingle. This is the wind before
the storm that frightens the brain and the apprehension appears.
What is the method of relief? Perspiration that lessens the
blood stream. What drug acts like it ? Have we any ? I know
of none.
The Course of Belladonna.
In Belladonna the pains come quickly and go quickly. Bella-
donna has a flushed face. How does it work up its pains and
aches ?
We all know it starts up the cardiac with great and sudden
force, like a lashed spirited horse. It bounds into the circulation
doubtless by holding the inhibitors. The blood rushes to the face
and head. The face is red and the temporal arteries throb and
ache. The capillaries ache from distension. There is partial
paralysis. The pupil dilates and the sphincter vesical loses its
grip. Profuse and frequent urination must help to relieve the
Belladonna poisoned body. That body cannot lie down because
the cerebral congestion is worse, as might be expected. He kicks,
bites and strikes in self-defense when the congestion becomes
severe So we come to note grades of action of our drugs. Where
among key-notes is that fact made clear ? This congestion may
be in any part of the body controlled by the sympathetic system.
Belladonna has a pathology, and that is capillary congestion that
may go on to inflammation. But it must have a rapid heart, con-
gestion and ache of a throbbing character; and the relief must be
characteristic, profuse and frequent urination. That lessens the
blood flow and hastens venous stasis, inimical to Belladonna, force-
ful action. What drug makes the grand rounds like Belladonna f
How Does Mercury Act ?
When I woke up from an attack of typho-malarial fever in '63,
and found my tongue hung out of my mouth like that of an ox
562 Nulhis Addictus, Etc.
on a hot day, I was told I was salivated. That was my first
knowledge of Mercury. Then I had bilious spells aggravated by
acid fruits, aching in right side, and finally my teeth loosened.
That was before the days of amalgam fillings and bichloride anti-
septics. Still we are told that Mercury is a harmless drug.
Heaven save the blind and forgive the erring ! Mercury has per-
spiration on the least exertion. Hering says that Mercury works
from without (skin and mucous) inward. How ? It evidently
goes by the way of the glands, producing enlargement of the liver
and spinal (dorsal) hypersemia. The sluggish blood stream is
relieved by perspiration. When taken it increases the saliva,
loosens the teeth, makes a big, flabby tongue that shows the
prints of the teeth, stimulates the liver so that the appetite is
capacious, ravenous, the venosity is increased, the urine is high
colored ( ' ' stains the diaper reddish " ) . The action goes on until
the nutrition of the bones suffers, beginning with those of the
mouth. In this grand rounds the Mercury body is weak and wet
on exertion. Have we a remedy like that in its symptoms or
pathology ? It would seem that we should get hold of the old
string that ties the drug effects together. To explain the key-
notes should be the next step in drug study. Hahnemann
anchored the symptoms to anatomy. We should point out their
course of action and the lesions produced, or, if you prefer, drug
pathology.
NULLUS ADDICTUS, ETC., ETC.
The highest compliment that the Sandwich Island chief could
pay Captain Cook was to chew his food for him — an over-com-
placent hospitality, rather. The great navigator was not in a po-
sition to dictate the manner of the social rites, so he bolted each
insalivated bolus — with what grace one can easily imagine.
Captain Cook's compliance was not voluntary, and we pity him
for the " fix " he was in, having the while an unspoken thankful-
ness that we are allowed to use our own grinders, for such are
the amenities of our latter-day civilization.
But, even in this year of Grace, 1901, there be those among us
who prefer to have their food chewed by proxy, all forgetful of
the stern law of evolution. The fish in Mammoth Cave, having
no use for eyes, Nature at length refuses to go to the trouble of
providing " peepers " which the darkness makes superfluous.
Nullus Addictus, Etc. 563
Hence our fixed belief that in due time homoeopathic physicians
will become edentulous, for why should Nature furnish teeth for
those who never use them ?
Is evidence wanted to substantiate the thesis which we are full
ready to defend? Well, doesn't our literature afford ample evi-
dence that our " school " is divided into two classes: the Chewers
and the Chewed-fors ? Does anyone say " No!"
Well, by the way their books sell, if my friend Dewey and Dr.
Nash are not of the humane and kind-hearted order of Chewers, I
do not know the species.
That Dewey's " prepared food for infants " is well selected and
gotten up "to the Queen's taste" is beyond question. Like the
famous Castoria, "children cry for it," once having tasted it.
And Dr. Nash, hasn't he so "practiced" that the homoeopathic
small fry do the ' ' open-your-mouth-and-shut-your-eyes ' ' act with
both delight and profit? Are they are not waxing fat? Verily!
(But do they know one shabby trick that this very fatness may
serve them? Does not too much fat lead to fatty infiltration,
which weakens the muscles, and to fatty degeneration, which
ruins the noblest organ in the body, the heart ? Beware of this
literary ensilage; go into the fresh fields and do your own brows-
ing. It will ensure not only the endowment of teeth, it may en-
able a better digestion than you have yet enjoyed. Try it.)
But it is not only in the matter of these labor-serving, " handy"
little books that we refuse to use our own teeth; oh, no. And yet
we are prone to boast of that which should be the sorry badge of
servitude. Despite Dr. Johnson's advice, "Clear your mind of
cant," we show by our practice that we can't. For instance, we
are somewhat fond (as the frequent quoting of it shows) of a son-
orous Latin line:
" Nullus addict us jurare in verba Magistri."
(You will observe, please, that I have "got it by heart.")
Freely rendered it means, /won't swear to it because the other big
fellow says it! And yet we're doing it daily.
For instance, again. It was only the other day that an English
editor was " safely delivered " of the following: " Let it be care-
fully noted that Hahnemann prescribed according to symptoms
and not for pathology; [Bully for him! Prescribing for pathol-
ogy?] also that he gave single doses and let them expend them-
selves."
I may remark in passing that the cheapest way to get a reputa-
564 Nullus Addictus, Etc.
tion for being a ' ' pure ' ' homoeopathic physician is to memorize a
few catch-words, to chirrup them in season and out, and to fill
the "organ" of these select saints with reports of therapeutic
miracles, such as no other practitioner of Homoeopathy, though
he " imitate exactly," can ever duplicate. I know this is done,
for I know those who have this prowess for their chief stock in
trade.
Now that single dose prescription is simply the bolting of a ver-
bum magistri.
It was my happy privilege to watch the practice of one, Dr.
Carroll Dunham, for some years. His practice was largely in the
field of chronic diseases; and after his masterful selection of the
remedy — a matter in which he was second to none in his day — I
found him ordering the "little, white powders," to be taken at
intervals of four hours, and continuously. This, too, although Dr.
Dunham had sat at Bcenninghausen's feet for a whole year and
seen his daily practice.
In reply to a direct inquiry why he thus violated a canon of the
" true faith," he replied, " I think I have found it better to give
a dose every four hours, and, when the actio?i is un??iistakable , to
stop the remedy." This was not said ex cathedra, but with that
frank and modest openness which characterized him; a distinguish-
ing feature which, to all who knew him in the flesh, will prove
that I have indeed " been there."
According to the pseudo saints of Homoeopathy this procedure
should have frustrated the beneficial action of the best-selected
remedy. Was it in pure deference to Dr. Dunham that it didn't?
Dr. Dunham's experience had not enabled him to see his way
to the alternation of remedies, which is the ' ' unpardonable sin ' '
with so many of the homoeopathic " unco gude." Nevertheless,
this method of homoeopathic practice was so ably defended by the
late Dr. Payne (of Maine) that I could see that Dr. Dunham did
not "hanker" for a tilt with him in the arena about this moot
question.
I believe Hahnemann himself was given to boasting in the
Nullus addictus line, yet if a disciple didn't swallow his ipse dixit
he had a scowl for his independence. Didn't Stapf, heart sore
over the death of his own child, write to Hahnemann that Homce-
opathy was not always sufficient? And did not Hahnemann show
his autocratic rule by treating the bereaved father more than
coolly for so long a time as he remembered his ill-founded wrath?
Announcement. 565
Even so. Alas, these are the feet of clay by which the Infinite
humbles our pretensions!
As to the single dose dogma — put yourself in Hahnemann's
place and then condemn him if, in fairness you can ! He was
suddenly, as it were, brought face to face with therapeutic results
from quantities that made Hufeland ask in a paroxysm of " scien-
tific " incredulity, " What effect can the one hundred thousandth
of a grain of Belladonna have?" Dr. Hahnemann gave a reply
that every homoeopath should know, but most certainly does not
— such is one result of the latter-day " predigested food." It is
evident that Hahnemann was astounded at the results of his own
'■' dilutions," the heathen call them, " potencies" he named them
because he found them potent when he " asked Nature." In the
fogs and blinding mists that confused the vision in those early
days, days when the garments of the unborn babe, Science, were
as yet unspun, we know to what desperate hypotheses he was
driven by the desire to explain the puissance of his ' ' potencies. ' '
Then came the Dynamization theory, which we know will no
more hold water than a sieve; while we also know, on far better
evidence, that these very " potencies " are potent.
Why, the mysteries that perplexed Alice in Wonderland are
not to be compared with those that confronted him. Is it a
wonder that a potency that was to him an unknown quantity was
invested with as mysterious a quality f Perhaps he had raised a
•devil that he could not lay if, instead of one, he introduced a
legion to play their occult pranks in the human frame divine.
Give him the charitable judgment that pure science cheerfully to-
day awards to Ptolemy and to Copernicus.
Meanwhile, my dear reader, have a care for your teeth.
S. A. J.
Ann Arbor, 29th of October.
ANNOUNCEMENT.
Cleveland, Ohio, November 1, 1901.
To the Members of the American Institute of Homoeopathy :
The American Institute of Homoeopathy in session at Richfield
Springs, N. Y., empowered the newly-elected Executive Commit-
tee to select the place for the Institute's 58th meeting.
The Committee has made choice of the City of Cleveland, O.,
for the meeting of the Institute in the month of June, 1902. We
566 Announcement.
feel assured that after the meeting has taken place the members
will agree that the Committee's decision is the wisest one that
could have been made. In 1899 the Institute made Cleveland its
first choice for the next succeeding meeting, thus recognizing its
eminent fitness. The local profession now desires the meeting.
Cleveland has the advantage of being easily accessible by many
lines of road from all parts of the United States. This is looked
upon as being of the greatest importance in insuring a large at-
tendance. The place of meeting must be accessible. The month
of June in Cleveland is one of the most delightful of the year, and
weather conditions are likely to be of the pleasantest. The Hol-
lenden House — which will be headquarters — is one of the best
hotels in any city in the country. It has made many concessions
in the interests of its expected guests. The Hollenden has 500
rooms, and will take splendid care of a large number. There are
other first-class hotels nearby. All can be suited and all can be
accommodated.
There is a very large number of homoeopathic physicians in the
part of the country tributary to Cleveland, making it a most
favorable point for the accession of new members. It is many
years since the Institute has met in Ohio, an additional reason in
favor of the choice that the Committee has made.
It is proper to state that the Executive Committee is well aware
of the fact that there is a strong and wide-spread sentiment in
favor of a quiet " resort " for the Institute meetings. Each mem-
ber of the Executive Committee shares in this feeling. With this
in view an earnest effort was made to find a suitable place of the
character. The only one that presented itself was Put-in-Bay
Island, in L,ake Erie. After a thorough investigation the Com-
mittee felt compelled to abandon further thought of this place,
for the main reason, among others, that it is very inaccessible.
Boats do not always make proper connection with trains, often
causing long delay. Should the lake chance to be rough, the trip
is very objectionable to many people. Therefore, because of its
inaccessibility, the Committee became convinced that it was unde-
sirable to make choice of the Eake Erie Island resort.
In making the above announcement of its final choice, the
Executive Committee entertains the confident assurance that the
meeting of the Institute to be held at Cleveland, June 17-21,
1902 will take its place among those which have been the most,
successful, the most profitable, and the most largely attended.
Jas. C. Wood, M. D.,
- President- Elect.
Ch. Gatchell,
Seer eta ry- Elect.
Postponement. 567
POSTPONEMENT.
Cincinnati, Ohio, November 12, 1901.
Members of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of Ohio:
President J. C. Wood informs us that the American Institute
of Homoeopathy will meet in Cleveland during the week begin-
ning June 17, 1902. Through the courtesy of one of your ex-
presidents we are informed that it is the custom in those States in
which the American Institute of Homoeopathy meets to adjourn
their meeting for that year. This is done that attendance at the
American Institute may be better than if the interests were
divided, as they would be in case we meet in May, 1902, and the
American Institute the following month.
With this in view correspondence with your officers prompts us
to submit the following:
" In view of the foregoing the officers of the Homoeopathic
Medical Society of Ohio have decided to postpone the next meet-
ing from May, 1902, to May, 1903. The officers will remain the
same under Article 5 of our Constitution. If sufficient number of
protests from members are received by December 1, 1901, the
action herein outlined will be null and void. If legislative or
other business matters demand reconsideration later that also can
and will be done."
Signed:
Thomas M. Stewart, President.
G. D. Grant, 1st Vice-President.
J. P. Hershbergkr, 2d Vice-President.
A. B. Xelles, Secretary.
T. T. Church, Treasurer.
SOME VETERINARY QUERIES AND POINTERS.
Editor of the Homceopathic Recorder.
Dear Sir: We need more knowledge in the veterinary practice
in many lines, so I will try to add my mite and ask for a little
help in some points. We can prevent blackleg or anthrax ho-
mceopathically, but who can cure it. If you have a cure let us
hear from you. i\s a preventive I have used Arse)iicum alb. 3X,
1 to 5 drops once or twice a week, and never failed, though we
568 Opium Dressing Fatal.
used this for our own stock for ten or twelve years. The remedy
may be mixed in the water in the tanks if desired. Anthrax in
the horse is generally easily handled with Arsenicum alb. and
Lachesis, one or both, but gives me no results with cattle. Ipecac
0, Y<i strength, 10 drops to pail of water daily, cures chicken
cholera in early stages, and its use obviates the use of Arsenicum.
For orchitis in stallions or bulls Ferrum phos. 2x, one drachm
every two hours, will cure in three to six doses. Have cured in
two doses. Aco?iite, Belladonna, Euphrasia, Arsenicum aid.,
Bryonia alb. are your only needed remedies in epizooty.
Where lameness, presumably due to rheumatism, calls for
Rhus tox., but does not yield, alternate with Bryonia and cure.
I. C. Wentz, Vet.
Spearville, Kan.
OPIUM DRESSING FATAL.
Enough Poison Absorbed by Rocket Wound to Cause
Death.
Alexander Iy. Campbell, the proprietor of a large drug store at
23 Beaver street, died in the Hudson street hospital yesterday
afternoon of Opium poisoning, the poison being taken into the
system by absorption from a dressing which had been put on a
wound.
Mr. Campbell secured one of the rockets thrown overboard
when the British bark Criffel was burned at the foot of Old Slip
on October 8. He had a discussion as to whether it was still good
after its wetting, and last Thursday tested it in front of his store,
burning the palm and wrist of his left hand very badly.
The wound was dressed by his family physician and did not
keep him from business. On Monday night the burn was dusted
with an opium dressing to ease the excessive pain, as had been
repeatedly done before. Mr. Campbell was at the store as usual
on Tuesday morning, but shortly after 8 o'clock went to the rear
room, saying he was sleepy. He sank into a coma from which he
could not be aroused, and all efforts to resuscitate him at the hos-
pital were unavailing. His death was due to Opium poisoning,
caused by absorption.
Mr. Campbell had been in poor health for some time, and his
condition, it is said, made him particularly susceptible to the
Opium Dressing Fatal. 569
poison. His physician and the hospital authorities agree that the
amount used in the dressing was not out of the ordinary.
Mr. Campbell was 38 years old and a bachelor. He lived at 214
West Thirty-seventh street and was prominent in Masonic cir-
cles.— N. Y. Sun, November 6th.
So the old fellow with the scythe is no respecter of persons; yet
it does seem like ingratitude to "go back " on so firm a friend as
a " regular" druggist!
The advocates of ' ' scientific medicine ' ' have the satisfaction of
knowing that "sensible doses" do have a winning way of " get-
ting in their work ' ' regardless of the weather, and that even
druggists are as poisonable as common people, and that the ordi-
nary patients — meaning those folk who are created only that doc-
tors and druggists may live — must take the same chances when
they "monkey" with Ophim.
Though it "had been repeatedly done before," it was done
once too often, it seems! As if the drug power had phases, wax-
ing and waning like the moon! Isn't it more likely that some
Opium was used which had not been assayed to determine the
lethal potency of it. Isn't it possible that an article which should
have been condemned by the inspector — a "bargain" — did the
fatal work for this particular druggist ? It was, no doubt, " some-
thing just as good" as the honest article which would not afford
as large a profit.
And, what is certainly noteworthy, how complacently "phy-
sicians and hospital authorities" join hands in explaining away
the grim catastrophe.
These disinterested worthies ' ' agree that the amount used in
the dressing was not out of the ordinary."
Perhaps the dead druggist might have something to say on that
point, himself finding it decidedly " out of the ordinary."
But an explanation is at hand, the druggist " had been in poor
health for some time, and his condition made him particularly
susceptible to the poison."
If poor health will make an old school patient ' ' particularly
susceptible," what's the matter with Samuel Hahnemann's small
doses for such susceptibles, or does the rule hold good only when
4 ' regular ' ' druggists are poisoned ?
5 7° Tuber culmum-Bacillimim.
The Patient's Perils.
Scientific.
i. The disease.
2. Doctor.
3- Druggist.
4. Dose.
Homoeopathic.
1. Ditto.
2. [Especially if he is who adds to
his knowledge of Homoeopathy all
that his old school business rival
knows.]
It must be that old school adherents are those severe economists
who want all they can get for their money. Well, they get it,
druggists and all.
S. A. J.
Ann Arbor.
TUBERCULINUM-BACILLINUM.
The first and most noticeable effect of Tuberculinum has been
on the cough and dyspnoea. "Last night I slept well for the
first time in eighteen months," and in a triumphant tone, "and
I kept down my dinner to-day." This was Mr. C.'s (set. 48) re-
port after having taken a single dose of Tuberculinum 30X. His
is an advanced case with cavity, streptococcus infection and very
irregular temperature. After three months' treatment he has
gained some in weight, night sweats have ceased, cough and
dyspnoea are greatly relieved, and he continues to sleep well. The
temperature range, however, is still abnormal, the physical signs
remain unaltered, and tubercle bacilli continue present in the
sputum.
Mrs. McE. (aet. 23) reported, after the first dose of Tuber-
culinum 2oox: "I can breathe easier and I slept so well last
night." This is also an advanced case with mixed infection, and
while the progress of the disease is not stayed, its course is re
tarded and the distressing symptoms much ameliorated.
Mr. G. (aet. 30), with all the signs of incipient tuberculosis
centered in the left apex, and presenting an especially distressing
cough, was markedly relieved after a single dose of Tuberculinum
30X, and eventually regained his appetite and weight, with entire
disappearance of the physical signs.
Miss F. (aet. 18), with a tubercular focus in right lung reported
almost entire cessation of the distressing symptoms after the first
dose of Tuberculi?ium 200X. In this case also increase in weight.
Book Notices. 571
normal temperature and disappearance of the physical signs re-
main as evidence of cure.
Many cases of similar nature could be cited. The subjective
symptoms were markedly relieved in the majority of cases where
the infection was purely tubercular, i. e. , before a breaking down
of tubercular foci and infection by pus organisms and the cases
practically fever free, Tuberculinu?n could be relied upon to effect
a cure in from three to six months. In cases with marked ne-
crosis, decided fever and hectic, there was invariably marked re-
lief of subjective symptoms and generally retardation of the
course of the disease, but not usually a cure.
The remedy was administered in one grain doses, preferably
just before retiring. In some cases it was given every night for a
week, then withheld for a week, then the routine repeated. In
other cases the remedy was given every third or every sixth
night. The latter method seemed attended with the best results.
Other remedies as indicated were frequently, not invariably, used
on the days when Tuberculinum was not given, but never until
time had been given for the Tuberculinum to manifest its charac-
teristic effect on the cough and dyspnoea. These accessory reme-
dies were chiefly Bryonia, Arsenicum iodide ■, Sanguinaria, Eupa-
torium, Perfoliatum and Phosphorus. — From paper by A. B.
Sch?ieider, M. D. , Clevela?id, in Clinical Home Reporter.
BOOK NOTICES.
Practical Medicine. By F. Mortimer Lawrence, M. D. 521
pages. 8vo. Cloth, $3.00; by mail, $3.23.
Dr. Lawrence has produced a book on practice that will com-
mand the respect of all physicians regardless of school. Indeed,
it could not be otherwise, for the author has strictly followed the
key-word of his title page and made his book severely practical.
To cover all the field in 521 pages he had no room for any pad-
ding or debatable matter. He has given the profession the latest
methods and procedures of modern medicine, all the tests and lat-
est methods. Therapeutics necessarily occupy but a limited space,
a list of all to be consulted being about all save in a few instances.
We predict that it will take its place as one of the authoritative
works of the centurv.
572 Book Notices.
Manual of the Essentials of the Diseases of the Eye and
Ear. By J. H. Buffum, M. D. Illustrated. 315 pages. Cloth,
$[.50. Flexible, $1.75. Chicago. Halsey Bros. Co. 1901.
This fine little manual is now in its second edition, the first
bearing the cop}' right year of 1895. It is written on the quiz
plan; i. e., a series of questions on all pertaining to the eye with
the appropriate answer, the whole forming an excellent manual
for students.
Pratt, Dr. E. H. The Composite Man, as comprehended in four-
teen anatomical impersonations. Illustrated with fourteen
plates. Cloth, $1.50.
No better book published for getting a clear idea of the human
body. Each of the fourteen ' ' men ' ' address the reader in the
first person, detailing their structure, etc. " The Bony Man"
opens and is followed by the " Muscular Man," " The Arterial
Man," etc.
Enlarged Tonsils Cured by Medicines. By J. Compton Bur-
nett, M. D., London.
In this most excellent little work Dr. Burnett argues that well
people do not have enlarged tonsils ; that tonsils are not ill of
themselves, but from the organism. Therefore he uses this as a
strong argument why scientific medication is incomparably better
in the treatment of enlarged tonsils than mere ablating them. He
maintains by the strongest kind of reasoning that not only enlarged
tonsils, but also adenoid growths, can be cured by medicines and
condemns those who fly to the knife, for the knife can never re-
move the real canse. He discusses the advantages and disadvan-
tages of the removal of these glands in a way that shows him to
be familiar with the subject in all its aspects. He considers the
tonsils important organs in preserving the life and integrity of the
individual. We can commend the work to all practitioners of our
school, both young and old. The indications for the remedies are
concise, perhaps too much so, yet much can be learned from the
clinical cases reported therein. — Medical Century.
Homoeopathic Recorder.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT LANCASTER, PA.,
By BOERICKE & TAFEL.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1.00, TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES $1.24 PER ANNUM ,
Address communications , books for review, exchanges, etc., for the editor, to
E. P. ANSHUTZ, P. O. Box 921, Philadelphia, Pa.
EDITORIAL BREVITIES.
What are You Going to do About It ? — A Canadian cor-
respondent of the Detroit Medical Journal puts it this way: " I
cannot help thinking there is something farcial in having a nurse,
at fifteen or twenty dollars a week, to run the thermometer under
the tongue every two or three hours and jot down the result,
along with the exact moment the bladder contracts, etc., etc. In
ninety per cent, of the cases what does it amount to; if the
temperature is ioo°, then 102. 20, then 100. i°, what are are you
going to do about it ?' '
Was It the X-Ray? — "A lady who fractured the neck of her
thigh bone in March last, while learning to ride the bicycle, en-
gaged a local photographer to take an X-Ray photograph. An
exposure of two hours was given, and twenty days later a second
exposure of two hours and ten minutes. This latter exposure
seems to have been followed by inflammation and ulceration of
abdominal parietes, and the patient became mentally unhinged,
death following. It seems desirable to call attention anew to the
fact that X-Ray photography has dangers, and that, therefore,
the services of medical experts in its use should be procured
whenever that is possible, rather than the process should be left
to the non-medical photographer." — Medical Press and Circular.
One for the Mosquitoes. — Don't be too hard on the mos-
quitoes, for here is one to their credit from Fort Wayne Medical
Journal; A farm hand was bitten by a rattle snake immediately
a swarm of mosquitoes settled on the bite, filled up with blood
574 Editorial.
and then dropped dead. The farm hand lived. So the Fort
Wayne says.
Connecticut Semi-Chntenxial — The Semi-Centennial of
the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical Society was celebrated on
November 18th and 19th with great success. The Hartford
papers, in which city the meeting was held, devoted a large
amount of space in reporting the event and the various addresses.
Evolution or Degeneration? — Leading men in scientific
circles, like Haeckel, it is said, have come to the conclusion that
monkeys are simply degenerates of a past race. If the founda-
tions of the theory of evolution are heaved there will be some im-
posing edifices resting on them fall, and great will be their fall.
Obituary. — Jaines C. Duncan, M. D., of De Kalb, 111., of
nephritis, following typhoid fever, after a sunstroke during the
hot days of July, at the age of fifty years. Dr. Duncan was born
in Wisconsin, educated in Milton College, and graduated from
Chicago Homoeopathic Medical College in 1887. He was a mem-
ber of the Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Society and of the
American Institute. His son, Dr. Clifford J. Duncan, succeeds
to his practice.
The St. Louis Disaster. — Armand Ravold, the bacteriolo-
gist of St. Louis, says in his report concerning the numerous
deaths from antitoxin in that city, that "the horse Jim seemed
to be in perfect physical condition ' ' when bled for the fatal anti-
toxin. He also adds that horses " undergoing treatment for the
production of diphtheria antitoxin" are peculiarly subject to
tetanus. ' ' We have lost six antitoxin horses with tetanus since
1895." How one is to determine whether the antitoxin is safe or
not isn't stated.
Chronic Diseases. — " Hahnemann's doctrine of Chronic Dis-
seases, fairly interpreted, offers the mightiest weapons in our
therapeutic resources, enabling us to wrest from the surgeon and
specialist many a disease manifestation that would, without it,
sooner or later, require their beneficent skill." — Win. Boericke,
M. D. , Address to Alabama County Homoeopathic Society.
Camden Tetanus Cases. — The Camden Board of Health has
made its report on the numerous deaths from tetanus following
vaccination. In effect it is that the State Bacteriologist being
Editorial. 575
unable to find any tetanus germs in the virus, " hence, tetanus
could not have been caused by the virus employed." They say
also that the air is full of tetanus germs, and the infection comes
from that source.
Those Letters. — Dr. W. Jefferson Guernsey sends us a
rather interesting bunch of letters, which see on page 544 of this
number of the Recorder. If anyone wants to reply to any of
these letters the pages of this journal are open. Free speech is
our policy.
Bovine Tuberculosis. — Dr. Moore's paper is another worthy
of especial attention. See page 5^3
Science Vindicates Hahxeuaxx's "Theories." — This is
from a paper by Percy Wilde, M. D., in December MoTpthfy
Homoeopathic Review on " Drug Dynamization:" "In the first
place we have physicians of the .homoeopathic school who make
use of the dilutions recommended by Hahnemann, and who do
so because they find them clinically valuable. So far as I can
gather, very few are inclined to pledge their scientific reputation
by accepting Hahnemann's theory of drug dynamization. The
disposition during the past half century has been rather to ex-
plain it away, or sink it in the necessity of using the small dose.
The dilutions are no longer called ' potencies,' but ' attenuations.'
Next we have physicians who constitute the vast majority, and
who have no clinical experience of the use of extreme dilutions
of remedies. They have been taught to regard the physician
who uses such remedies as either a knave or a fool. They have
been taught that it adds to the dignity of the medical profession
to take this view. Next we have scientists, represented by physi-
cists, chemists and electricians, who for some years have been
teaching that all substances which are electrolytes, i. e., acids,
bases and salts, have their energy increased by extreme dilution,
in some cases by infinite dilutio?i, as an elementary fact. They
know nothing of Hahnemann's theory, but in such circles, if ab-
solute proof was afforded in respect to every known substance,
that its chemical energy increased with dilution, so far from ex-
citing surprise it would be met with the rejoinder, that every
scientific fact already pointed to this conclusion, and has done so
for many years."
PERSONALS.
Dr. T. M. Dillingham has removed to 8 W. 49th St., New York.
Our esteemed contemporary, Russki Vratch, is now under the able con-
trol of Drs. Podwisotski and Wladislawlew.
Dr. B. F. Lucas has removed to Ozark, Ark.
A young physician, at present in practice, wishes to go into partnership
with an older physician. Address Mem, care of Boericke & Tafel, Phila-
delpiha, Pa.
Yes, Mary, ;t'n ere „is considerable difference between a falsetto voice and a
false set bV teeth. '
"/fh§Vu'man beings so-called, is more, or legs of a fool." Correspondent
. ^'Medical Brief: Wei!, what should he be Cabled ?.
*.'•/•' Camden, St. Louis and^ Cleveland ^ar-e, worrying the makers of antitoxin,
■ « 'etc. T4i& « iaxii'cated.iiemedv " stems safter at least.
Even !•» Paris 'soihe of the big men are kicking over the antitoxin traces.
The Philadelphia Board of Health quarantined forty stalwart policemen in
their own station house. A tramp had been taken from it with small-pox
by first intention, as it were.
If you are fortunate enough to have a chance to talk it over with the other
fellow you find out that he isn't half bad.
No, Mary, running up columns of figures is not physical exercise.
The fourth annual meeting of the Washington Homoeopathic Medical
Society was held at the New Willard, December 13th and 14th.
Lawrence's new book, Practical Medicine, is a winner.
Send your papers to the Recorder for a big circle of readers. Goes
everywhere.
The foot ball agony is over, and now the basket ball man has the floor.
Boericke & Tafel will have a new book catalogue out some time in
January.
Hering said that Carbo veg. is the best preventive of yellow fever.
See if Bacillinum ( Tuberculinum) a few nights in succession will not give
ease to the consumptive. Worth trying. See page 570.
They say that aching in filled teeth can be relieved by Ammonium carb.
The end of the Homoeopathic Recorder, volume XVI. Subscribe for
volume XVII ! !
%^mi
'. tiMl
m
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11